


When it all comes down

by Elenduen



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League - All Media Types, Smallville, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Bat Family, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Crossover, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Damian, Hurt Lex, Hurt Tony, Hurt/Comfort, Iron Dad, IronBat Family, Kryptonian Ship, M/M, Murder Baby Damian, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Post-Justice League (2017), Precious Peter Parker, Resurrection, Screw MCU, Superhero Lex Luthor, Tony Whump, Zombie Thanos, Zombies, bat dad, billionaire boyfriends, endgame-fix it, no time travel, not wanda maximoff friendly, post snap, protective damian, super family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2020-06-10 05:57:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 49,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19494553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elenduen/pseuds/Elenduen
Summary: Struggling to cope in the wake of the snap and losing those they love, Lex, Tony, and Damian come up with an unexpected and possibly insane way to undo what Thanos has done, by using the amniotic chamber in the kryptonian ship to resurrect the infinity stones.Of course, they'll need to get the particles of said stones from the quantum realm and piece them back together, but they can use Pym Particles for that, so the only real issue will be the herculean task of repairing the kryptonian ship and getting it to fly to Thanos' planet.After all, the amniotic chamber created Doomsday, and it resurrected Clark, why shouldn't it be able to do this? Although the power discharge might bring back a few things they wished it hadn't...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The song is by Claire Guerreso and is called Ashes.

My mind is spun,   
I’ve had enough,  
Feels like I’m burning down, the flames rise up,  
And I can’t tell,  
What’s coming next,  
Feels like life’s a game of roulette.

The one that I need,  
To help me see beyond the surface,  
My purpose,

You were my north-star,  
You were my always,  
You were my compass,  
Now I’ve turned sideways,  
Maybe you turn to ashes, ashes.

When it all comes down  
When it all comes down.

A cold wind blows upon my back,  
The sky is getting full,   
And turning black.  
I lost my way,   
When I lost you,  
I need a moment more,  
This can’t be true.

The one that I need,  
To help me see beyond the surface,  
My purpose,

You were my north-star,  
You were my always,  
You were my compass,  
Now I’ve turned sideways,  
Who did you turn to?  
What can you say?  
Ashes, ashes,

It all comes down, it all comes down, it all comes down.

Ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes,  
When it all comes down  
When it all comes down.

Who did you turn to?  
When it all comes down,  
It all comes down  
It all comes down.

Ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes,  
When it all comes down,  
When it all comes down.

Who did you turn to?  
When it all comes down,  
When it all comes down.

Ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes,  
When it all comes down.

Who did you turn to?  
When it all comes down.

Gotham City.

Wayne Manor 

Twenty Four days since the snap.

Lex sat in the bay window drinking whiskey from the bottle. On the floor besides him where numerous empty bottles of whiskey, vodka, brandy, and every other alcohol he’d found in Bruce’s home. 

He’d been drinking almost non stop since the snap. Since he had been standing in Russia with the newly formed Justice League, watching the strange flowers grow in the wake of defeating Steppenwolf, reunited with Clark after resurrecting him in the Kryptonion ship, only to see all of the same save for Diana turn into ash. 

Lex couldn’t remember what he’d said or what he’d done in the hours following that horrific moment. Everything had seemed to blur into tears and sobs of despair, and the next time he was consciously aware he was sat in an arm chair at Gotham manor, seeing the news report on the TV that was showing the world wide devastation. 

Damian, the only survivor of Bruce’s family, was perched on the edge of the sofa, rigid and shaking with an anger that he couldn’t take out on an enemy, because their enemy was not there. That being, they later discovered from the remaining Avengers, was Thanos, and he was long gone. 

“What do we do?” Damian had whispered, gazing at Lex and Diana, looking for guidance, absolution, a miracle. But what could they offer him? 

Nothing…

The three of them had suited up, gone into the cities, helped the emergency services, or what was left of them with help those who had been injured when drivers, pilots, sailors, etc had turned to ash.

Helped the police and military keep as much order as possible as criminals took advantage, escaping from prison when the guards turned to ash, thieves ran wild, looting shops and homes, and ordinary citizens, traumatized by what had happened simply snapped. 

They carried on like that, patrolled, helped, went back to the manor, didn’t eat, didn’t sleep, and went back out. At some point Diana left for Paris, leaving contact details if they needed her, Lex had found the letter when he’d been beginning his morning drinking and had proceeded to drink until he vomited into sink.

He knew he should be caring for Damian, should be providing him an example, being a Father figure to him. But Lex was just too broken. 

He had barely held onto his sanity when he’d lost Clark to Doomsday. The last years had been hell for him, he’d not been living, just existing. His nightmares had been unbearable, he’d only been sleeping a few hours a week, had been drinking in excess, just passing from one day to another, waiting for something to end it all. 

Bruce and Tony had been strength, had kept him from slitting his wrists. But now even they were gone. 

It was double cruelty, the universe giving him Clark back only to snatch him away again, and this time taking Bruce and Tony with him. 

Tony, lost in space somewhere, along with that Spider kid. 

He and Bruce never even got to see each other one last time.   
“Firefly’s gang have started set another street on fire in the narrows.” Damian said, coming into the study, he was dressed in his Robin suit, his katana at his side, cowl down, ready for battle.

Lex realized that he hadn’t even taken off his Dragonfly suit before he began drinking, in fact he couldn’t remember the last time he had taken it off, or showered. That was a disgusting thought, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Just brought the bottle back to his lips and swallowed,

“Lex?” 

“Just leave it Dami.” He said, his voice hoarse and tired, God he was exhausted, just completely and totally done with everything. So Firefly’s gang committed another arson attack as the mourned their Queen. 

So what, who cared? 

Mutely Damian sat down besides Lex and plucked the bottle from his hands, before Lex could protest he took a mouthful of whiskey and screwed his face up at the taste,

“How do you drink that?” He asked is disgust, 

“With years of practise.” Lex replied snatching the bottle back, “You’re too young.”

“Bollocks!”

Lex snickered slightly at Damian’s use of British swearing, Alfred’s influence no doubt, “Rum tastes sweeter,” He offered, knowing he shouldn’t encourage Damian to drink but not about to stop him either. 

A squeal of brakes and the roar of tires on gravel had Lex frowning and cocking his head in the direction of the drive. Damian too was scowling at the direction the noise from coming from and just about leaped out of his skin when the front door was knocked, or rather hammered on.

“Did you order a pizza?” Lex asked, getting to his feet and swaying slightly, having to support himself on the sofa as he made his way to the door, with Damian hot on his heels, sword drawn and a murderous expression on his youthful face. 

When they reached the door it was knocked again and this time someone called out, “Bruce?”

Lex’s eyes widened, he knew that voice, he knew that voice!

“Tony?” Damian whispered and Lex flung the door open finding Tony Stark in the doorway, looking tired, beaten down, painfully thin, but alive. 

*****

So they’d lost. 

Tony had known when he’d awoken at the compound after screaming at Rogers and fainting that the trip to Thanos’ planet would avail the Avengers nothing. 

He’d waited only long enough for the drip feed to finish and the world to stop swaying when he stood, before he threw on some clothes he had left at the compound and took off for Gotham. 

The last he’d seen of Bruce, the Bat had been making bringing the Justice League together to fight some ancient beast that Diana called Steppenwolf. Tony would have joined them, but then Strange had shown up with Banner and everything had gone to hell. 

Quite literally it seemed. 

Driving through the mostly empty streets was harrowing. It was like driving through a ghost town. The normally insanely active city of New York was all but deserted. Only token people could be seen shuffling along, their eyes wide and haunted, as they searched for answers that they would never find. 

Thanos might have intended only half of the Universe to die, but in reality, almost two thirds had gone. The people turning to dust had caused many deaths from accidents as vehicles without drivers suddenly went out of control, planes without pilots fell from the sky with their passengers trapped on board. Ships sank, trains crashed, oil refiners blew, there had even been a Nuclear plant meltdown as the specialists turned to ash. 

In hospitals patients undergoing surgery were suddenly left without medical staff, women giving birth suddenly had no midwife, or they themselves turned to ash along with the medical staff leaving a helpless infant alone. 

The deaths mounted up, higher and higher, as people succumbed to their injuries, when there weren’t the specialists available to treat them, or there weren’t the personnel to help rescue them from a place they were trapped in. 

There were many suicides. Too many. 

People were just giving up, and who could blame them?

Tony certainly didn’t. He’d given up himself. He’d given everything he had to stopping this, to stopping Thanos and it had all been for nothing.

He didn’t entirely blame Rogers for that. He blamed him for the civil war, for lying about Barnes and his parents. But not for Thanos, he only blamed Thanos for that, and he doubted that there was anyway they could have adequately prepared for this. 

As he’d left the compound he’d had only one destination in mind. Wayne Manor. 

He and Bruce had gotten back together in the wake of the Civil War, when Bruce or rather Bat Man had been squaring off against Superman. The two of them being manipulated and pitted against each other by Lionel fucking Luthor, the not quite so dead as had been hoped bastard had been making a play for taking out both Batman and Superman, and had created Doomsday. 

The monstrous beast that had taken Clark’s life and all but destroyed Lex. 

It had been as they had cared for Lex, kept him from disappearing into his grief completely, that Tony and Bruce had found their way back to each other. Becoming a part of each others lives again, with the Bat family accepting Tony into their home, and Peter accepting Bruce and his brats into his. 

They had watched with fondness as a tentative romance had sparked between Peter and Tim, a romance that was now gone for good as Peter had been snatched out of the world. 

“I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go.” Peter’s last words haunted Tony, would haunt him until the day he died. The look of terror on the boys face as he had crumbled to ash in Tony’s hands. 

“We’re in the endgame now.” Strange had said as he’d crumbled into nothing. Smug, sanctimonious bastard. Why, why give Thanos that stone? Why not let the Titan kill Tony? Then none of this would have happened, Peter would still be alive and….

Tony cut himself off. He’d been thinking this over and over as he’d been on the ship with Nebula, trying to reason out why Strange had spared his life, it made no more sense now than it had back then and frankly he was done thinking about it. 

He screeched to a halt outside Wayne Manor and went to pound on the door, calling out for Bruce, hoping, praying that the Gothamite would open the door, but it was not Bruce who answered, it was Lex and Damian who looked as drained and wrecked as Tony himself felt. 

They didn’t have to tell him what had happened, Tony knew as soon as he saw them that they were all that was left. 

Nodding his head he fell into Lex’s embrace, holding open his arms for Damian to join them, which after a beat the boy did, and three of them held each other, clinging on to what little they had left.


	2. Chapter 2

Together the three of them went through to the study and collapsed on the sofa together, Damian rose briefly to get what remained of Bruce’s drinks cabinet which brought a wry snort from Tony, who grabbed the tequila and drank straight from the bottle, 

“The hell with sobriety.” He saluted, 

“Amen to that.” Lex agreed, picking up the whiskey, after a few mouthfuls he slumped into the cushions with a morose sigh, “The ship brought Clark back.” 

Tony looked at him in shocked amazement, and Lex shrugged, “Didn’t matter in the end.” Nothing did. “We defeated Steppenwolf, we were basking in our glory over having saved the world.” Lex’s mouth twisted into a bitter sneer, “We thought ourselves invincible at that moment, and then…” He broke off and buried whatever he was going to say in the whiskey.

“I lost Peter.” Tony murmured, looking down at the carpet, unable to meet Lex or Damian’s eyes, “He was scared, saying that he didn’t want to go,” 

“What happened?” Damian asked, “In space.”

Tony shrugged, “We lost.” He didn’t want to go into details, didn’t want to talk about that fight, how close they had come to getting the glove, how Strange had traded the Time stone for his life. Why he had done that Tony still hadn’t the faintest. 

What did Strange expect him to do? It wasn’t like he could magic the stones back into existence, certainly not now that Thanos had gone and destroyed them. 

Steve had looked wrecked when he’d told Tony that, when he’d admitted in a small voice that the trip to the planet had been a waste of time and that Thanos had destroyed the stones just a few days before they’d arrived. 

“Is there anything that can be done?” Damian asked, his voice barely above a whisper. When Tony glanced his way the boy looked so young, too young to have to face this, too young to have lost so much. It broke Tony’s heart to have to snatch away the smallest glimmer of hope that Damian still had. 

“Thanos destroyed the stones.” He murmured, “Used them to destroy them, on the atomic level. There’s nothing left of them now.”

“So that’s it then.” Lex said, as Damian slumped, the fight going out of him like a candle flame being snuffed, leaving nothing but a thin trail of smoke in the air, 

“Yeah.” Tony whispered, “That’s it.” 

Sometime later, the three of them made their way upstairs to bedrooms. Lex peeled off his Dragonfly suit, the stench of stale sweat making him grimace as he pulled it away from his skin and dumped it into the hamper to be washed. He then got into the shower and scrubbed himself clean.

One he was dry he threw on one of Clark’s t-shirts that was much too big for him and hung on him like a night dress, and a pair of boxer shorts, and padded through to the bedroom, where Tony had tossed the decorative pillows to the floor and pulled back the duvet. 

He had stripped down to his boxer briefs and pulled silk shirt that look suspiciously like one of Bruce’s on, over his vest. 

A knock at the door prevented either man from saying anything, and Damian slipped into the bedroom, clad in silk pyjamas, shuffling his bare feet on the carpet as he looked everywhere but at Tony and Lex. 

“I don’t think I can sleep,” He whispered, his head bent forward and shoulders hunched inwards, “I keep seeing Dick, Jason, Tim, and Alfred turning to dust in front of me. Every time I shut my eyes I keep wondering if… if when I open them again..”

“That everyone else will be gone too.” Lex finished for him, Damian’s head shot up and he met the boy’s startled eyes with a knowing smile, “I do the same.” He said, “I’ll bet pretty much everyone is.”

Damian rolled his lips and glanced at the bed then back to Lex, before looking over to Tony, silently asking a question that Tony nodded to, 

“There’s room for all of us.” He said and slid under the covers. Damian hesitated for a moment, then joined him along with Lex. 

The three of them settled down beneath the bed covers, Damian giving into temptation and snuggled into Tony, who spooned around him, pressing him flush against the boy’s back, with Lex spooning around him, so the three of them were nestled into each other, providing comfort and security as they slowly drifted into sleep. 

*****

Compound

Steve rolled the Nano Arc Reactor in his hands, tossing it back and forth. It wasn’t a gift, it wasn’t something Tony had given him out of kindness or friendship, it had been thrust at him in anger as Tony had screamed at him seconds before he collapsed. 

Steve had never seen Tony so weak or beaten down, not even in the weeks following the Civil War had he looked as terrible as he did right now. 

It had been painful to look at the Billionaire, the dark hollows under his eyes, the sharp jut of his cheek bones, and the prominence of his ribs. He must have lost a good two stone or more during his time in space. His body burning fat and then muscles as it fought to stay alive. 

Tony had always been a fighter. Iron Man had been born from him fighting to survive. But now it seemed like the fight had gone out of him, that he had just given up, and in all honesty Steve couldn’t blame him. 

“You should get some rest.” 

Steve glanced up and saw Rhodey standing besides him, looking as tired and strained as Steve himself felt. 

“You look done in, man.” The colonel said, sinking down into the space besides Steve on the corner suite sofa. 

“I am.” Steve admitted, “Totally done.” He looked down at the arc reactor, “And so’s he.” 

“Nah.” Rhodey shook his head, “Tony’s just lashing out, he’ll come around, he always does.” For some reason this made Steve angry and he found himself snapping at Rhodes for his nonchalant attitude. 

“Maybe you don’t know him as well as you think you do.” 

Rhodey’s eyebrows arched, “I know him, better than you, Cap.”

“Oh really?” Steve knew he shouldn’t be goading Rhodey, didn’t even know why he was, but he just couldn’t seem to help himself. “How about that time when he came to you after building the first suit and you dismissed him? Or how about when he was dying of Palladium, instead of finding out what was wrong you went and stole the War Machine armour and beat him up!”

“And how about you, lying to his face about your murderous boyfriend having killed his parents?” Rhodey snarled back,

“That wasn’t Bucky.” 

“Mentally no, but physically yes it was, and because you and Romanoff decided to keep shtum, Tony had to find that out from a video.” 

Steve bit down on his bottom lip so hard that it bled, “I have never regretted anything more in my life than what happened in Siberia.” He said, “I hate that I hurt Tony, I how it played out. I wish I could go back in time and change it, make things right.” So very many things. Peggy, Bucky, Tony. 

“Yeah,” Rhodey sighed with a heavy exhale, “Don’t we all wish that.” 

The two of them sat in silence for several minutes, the only sound coming from Steve’s nails on the metal casing of the arc reactor. 

“Where do you think he’s gone?” He asked Rhodey, meaning Tony of course. 

“Gotham.” Rhodey replied, “He’ll have gone to see if Bruce is… and if not then he’ll want to check on the kids, and Lex.” 

“Bruce Wayne.” Steve murmured, “What’s he like?”

“And asshole.” This startled a laugh out of Steve and Rhodey grinned, “He was obnoxious when I first knew him. Arrogant, controlling to the point of being over-bearing, condescending, and at times downright cruel.” 

“But…”

“But, he grew up.” Rhodey said, “Went away somewhere and found himself. Learned humility and empathy, learned how to be less of a control freak and when to let go.” He looked to Steve, “He’s adopted three boys and has one of his own that he is raising alone.” 

Steve nodded, “I’d heard.” 

“He saw his parents get murdered when he was twelve.” Rhodey said, shaking his head, “They were gunned down in front him, for a couple of hundred bucks and a pearl necklace. Fucking bullshit.”

“It is.” Steve agreed. “He and Tony met in college, right?” 

“Yeah and were together off and on until the mid-nineties. Then they split, and now they..,” Rhodey broke off, he didn’t know if Tony and Bruce were together, if Bruce had survived the snap, he hoped for Tony’s sake that Bruce had and that the two of them were together, comforting each other right now. 

“You know, people said that they saw Superman a few hours before the snap.” Steve said, “That he was in Metropolis, and then in Northern Russia, where some battle took place. The Bat Man and Dragon Fly were seen there along with a couple of Meta-humans.”

Rhodey nodded, “I heard. I’ve seen the photos of those weird flowers too.” He sighed heavily, “I guess if Superman did somehow come back that he got taken away in the snap, probably with the rest of his team.” 

“So they lost too.” It seemed like everyone had lost, the entire Universe had lost, all because of one mad genocidal alien with a God complex. 

“What the hell are we meant to do now?” Steve asked,

“Fucked if I know, Man,” Rhodey admitted, “I guess we try and live, make the best of what’s left and try not to lose anyone else.” 

Steve wanted to agree, he really did, but how could he when they already lost Tony? And he couldn’t help but wonder who would be next to leave and never come back?

*****

Gotham

Damian awoke before Tony and Lex and surprised them both with breakfast. It wasn’t very good, there was little in the fridge since Alfred wasn’t around to keep it stocked and Damian was no cook, but he’d managed to find some bread that wasn’t growing mould and had toasted it, slapping jam and peanut butter onto it, and had made coffee and instant hot chocolate since the milk was more like yoghurt and the cream smelled so bad that it could have stripped paint, so he used the hot chocolate to turn the coffee into make-shift mochas. 

The three of them sat on the bed, picking at the breakfast, all too depressed to feel really hungry.

“We should do some grocery shopping.” Tony said, “We need things, food and drink.” His lips quirked, “The non-alcoholic kind.” 

“We should see if the schools are open again yet.” Lex said, looking to Damian who scowled at him, clearly not wanting to go back to school, “I doubt they are though, and we should call Diana, make sure that she secured the Atlantian and Amazonian Mother-boxes.” 

“What did you do with the third?” Tony asked, curiously, they had spoken a little about the Mother boxes the night before, and how Diana had taken two of them, to put them where they belonged. She would give the Atlantian one to the remaining Atlantians and take the Amazonian one back to her home before she went to Paris.

“It’s locked up in the cave.” Lex said, “We couldn’t think of anywhere safer for it.” 

Tony nodded and sipped at his chocolate coffee, after weeks of deprivation anything tasted good. 

“Couldn’t we use the boxes to undo this?” Damian asked, “Like how you brought Superman back?”

Lex shook his head, “They don’t work like that, and we only managed to bring Clark back because he was in the amniotic chamber in the ship, we used the power of the mother box to give it enough energy to revive him, but it couldn’t undo a Universe wide murder.”

“No,” Tony said, slowly, his eyes widening as a sudden thought sparked in his mind, “But maybe the amniotic chamber could revive the stones and then we could use them to undo what Thanos has done.”

“What?” Lex and Damian stared at Tony, who got off the bed gesturing wildly with his hands as he spoke. 

“Think about it. That amniotic chamber had the power to create Doomsday and to resurrect Clark, why shouldn’t it be able to rebuild the Infinity Stones if they were places into the fluid?” 

“Because they don’t exist anymore?” Lex said, “Thanos destroyed them on the atomic level, their particles are scattered,”

“Yeah, but said particles could be gathered and placed in containers.” Tony said, 

“How?” Damian scoffed, “You’d have to be on the quantum level to even see them.” Lex’s eyes widened, 

“Pym!” 

“Exactly.” Tony said, “The Pym Particles, we use them to shrink down and gather the Infinity stone particles and put them into the amniotic chamber, then power it up and get it to do its magic.”

“Power it with what, the mother box?” Damian asked, Tony shook his head, 

“I wouldn’t want to risk mixing that with the stones, fuck only knows what would happen. No, I was thinking a power source that is based off the tesseract, namely an arc reactor.” 

Lex jumped up off the bed, taking Tony’s hands and looking him dead in the eyes, “Are you serious about this, I mean really serious?” he had to know, he couldn’t get his hopes up only to have them torn to shreds again. He was hanging on by a thread right now, a very thin thread at that.

Tony nodded frantically, a feverish excitement in his eyes, “We can do this.” He enthused, “We get Pym Particles, fix the Kryptonion ship, fly the fucking thing to Thanos’ planet and bring those stones back, once we do, we use them to undo what that bastard did.”

“And bring everyone back.” Damian whispered, he gazed up at Tony and Lex, looking young and fragile as he sat on the end of the bed, his knees pulled up to his chest, “Can we really do this, I mean really?” 

Tony paused and shrugged, he wasn’t going to lie to Damian, he wasn’t going to make a promise that he might not be able to keep, even if it was given with the best of intentions. 

“I don’t know.” He admitted, “Human science would say no. But Human science doesn’t understand Kryptonion tech or the Infinity stones, so where they are involved all bets are off.” 

“And all things considered,” Lex said, holding out a hand to Damian, which he took and let himself be tugged off the bed, “What have we got to lose?” 

The answer to that was nothing, they had already lost everything, and while this could very possibly be a fools errand, it at least gave them hope, and maybe, just maybe, they would be able to pull it off.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony's going to be lashing out a bit in this chapter and say some things he doesn't mean.

The first job was shopping for groceries since the manor was pretty much bare of anything that wasn’t growing its own life form or stinking to high heaven. So while Lex cleaned the fridge and cupboards out, Damian and Tony went to the supermarkets and shops to stock up. 

Business were only just starting to function again. With staff and managers gone business had ground to a halt. There were no deliveries of goods, not produce even being collected. When the snap had first hit people had panicked and emptied the shelves to stock up, leaving stores with practically nothing left. Pharmacies were the same as people emptied the drugs supply, either to make sure they had the drugs they needed to stay alive, or just to blot out their pain. 

Supply of medicine was as much a problem as food supply, as manufacturing ground to a halt, many deaths had been caused by a lack of insulin and other life saving drugs that had simply run out. 

With supplies still being hit and miss it took Tony and Damian several hours and many stores to get what they needed and even then it was only the basics, nothing fancy since they simply couldn’t find it. 

Thankfully there was coffee, Tony would have cheerfully hung himself if there wasn’t coffee and Lex wouldn’t have been far behind him. 

With the food situation sorted they headed to metropolis and the Krytonion ship to see what they had to work with. There were no guards on the ship as there usually were. The military was spread thin and dealing with peace keeping and helping get the country back up and running and didn’t have the personnel to spare for such a task, which worked in the trio’s favour.

The amniotic chamber was how the Justice League had left it, the photo of Clark and Jonathon still floating in the fluid from which Lex plucked it. His pale fingers smoothing over the image, tracing Clark’s face. 

“He hated me, you know?” He said, turning to look at Tony, who was examining the computers, “Jonathon Kent I mean. He never liked me, hated it when Clark and I got together, out right accused me of turning his son Gay.”

“Prick.” Damian said, 

“I was relieved when he died.” Lex admitted, “I don’t think Clark and I would have made it if Jonathon had been alive. He’d have found someway to drive us apart.” Lex did feel some guilt for this, for feeling relieved when the biggest obstacle to his and Clark’s relationship had gone, even though it caused Clark immense grief over the loss of his Father. 

Jonathon had never seen Lex as anything but a Luthor, a prodigy of Lionel’s, a threat to Clark. No matter what Lex did, how he tried to do the right thing and show that he was not like Lionel, Jonathon would never change his mind. 

“God fucking damnit!” Tony cursed, giving the console a kick, “The circuits are fried, Lionel’s stint as Dr Frankenstein trashed the systems.”

“Beyond repair?” Damian asked, turning sharply as he stood in the water with Lex,

Tony hummed and shook his head, “I need to look at the mainframe and see what state its in, if we can’t repair it then we’ll replace it with systems of our own, as it is we’re going to need a whole team of techs to work on this, computer specialists and engineers.” 

“I’ll compile a list of the best at Lexcorp.” Lex offered, putting the photo into his pocket, “Lucian will likely have a list of people from Wayne Enterprises, and no doubt you can get some in from Stark Industries.” Tony nodded and stepped down into the fluid, wading his way across the chamber, 

“We need to look at the engines, see what state there in.” He said, using the rail by the steps to pull himself out of the fluid, “Hopefully we won’t have to try and replace any parts, I’m not sure how well earth materials will be in compatibility with Krytonian tech, and we’re going to need an entire engineering team to work on getting the engines up and running, no to mention overhauling the entire ship to get it suitable to fly.”

As feared the engines were in one hell of a mess, with many parts having been destroyed and others having rusted over time, it was going to take a lot of work by some very talented engineers to get the ship operational at all, let alone capable of interstellar travel. 

“Friday, I want a full analysis on the metal.” Tony said to the AI, “Full specs and potential alternative materials.”

“You got it bossman.” Friday cheerfully replied and began to take scans of the ship via Tony’s headset. 

The good news was that the mainframe and data core was intact. It appeared, when Lex and Tony examined it that the systems ran on a separate circuit to the rest of the ship, no doubt as a way to backup and protect the archive. Lionel’s actions had probably not damaged any of the core systems, it had simply run out of power when he’d fried the last of it in creating Doomsday. 

“So will the AI function if we can restore the engines and power?” Damian asked, frowning at the mainframe systems,

“It should,” Tony replied, “The archive should be intact,” 

“But consoles are shot to hell.” Lex sighed, running a hand over his head, “The engines too, we are going to have to try and replace the parts, try and replicate them.” He slouched back against the metal frame, “Which will be easier said than done, since we have only a very basic understanding of Krytonian engineering.” 

Damian pursed his lips, “I don’t suppose we can just replace the engines with earth engines?” It was logical question but Tony shook his head, 

“We are no where near this advanced, certainly not to create something capable of light speed and hyper light speed.” He shrugged, “Give me a couple of years or so, maybe a decade with nothing else to do and I might be able to come up with a prototype, but nothing actually capable of both powering this ship and getting us across space and back.” 

“Not to mention the life support system.” Lex added, “We’re not going anywhere without that.”

“Spec analysis ready boss.” Friday said, 

“Gimme.” Tony replied, 

“Ship structure is fairly intact, it does need some work, but for the most part is still space worthy. The main components of the engines are intact, they need repair but not replacing. Compatible metals available on earth are Titanium, Adamantium, and Vibranium. Note, Vibranium is the most compatible.” 

“Of course it is.” Tony sighed heavily, “The one metal we can’t get a hold of very easily.” 

“If at all.” Lex sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “What about Wakanda, who is running things there now?”

“I’m not sure.” Tony replied, “T’Challa and his Sister are gone, I don’t know who would be next in line for the throne. But I guess we’re going to find out.” 

“We are?” Damian asked,

“We need vibranium.” Tony said, shrugging his shoulders, “Wakanda is the only place we can get it, so we have to open negotiations. Or at least I will.”

“You?” Lex asked, “What’ll we be doing?” 

“Visiting Pym and getting the particles.”

*****

Compound.

The last thing Steve expected to see when he stepped out of the compound into the training ground to take a minute away from trying to figure out where to go from here, and to enjoy his coffee in the fresh air, was a sports car screeching down the drive at an alarming speed.

He watched as said car drew closer and finally stopped right in front of him, the door opened and Tony climbed out, “Miss me?” he asked with an eat shit grin, Steve couldn’t help but to smile back,

“I always miss you.” It was an echo from the past, what he’d said to Tony when the Billionaire had tried to give up being Iron Man after Ultron. Steve regretted not talking Tony out of that now, regretted so many things, maybe, had things been different they would not be in this situation now.

The void between them stretched further than the car that was actually between them and Tony tapped the roof with his fingers, “Do you know who’s running things in Wakanda these days?” 

Steve blinked in surprise at the question, “Okoye I believe.” He frowned, “Why?”

A smirk quirked Tony’s lips, “I need some vibranium, a shit ton of it in fact. I could also do with some tech and engineering experts, all of which Wakanda has in a large supply.”

“And you want this for…”

“I might have a way to bring back the Infinity Stones.”

Thirty minutes later Tony was in the conference room in conference with Okoye. He had explained the plan to Steve, Natasha, and Rhodey. Thor had disappeared, muttering something about the remaining Asgardians so they figured he was heading for Norway, and Banner had said he needed some alone time, taking off in one of the cars heading south.

Now the remaining Avengers stood in the conference room watching Okoye’s holographic image as she digested the information she received from Tony. 

“Even if you manage to get the Kryptonian ship functional, I do not see how you hope to collect the particles of the infinity stones,” 

“By using Pym Particles.” Tony replied, “We shrink down to the quantum realm, we’ll be able to see the particles there, be able to gather them, and then, hopefully, the amniotic chamber in the ship will be able to repair them.” 

It sounded crazy, hell it was crazy. Using an Alien ship to resurrect magical gems in the hopes of using said gems to bring back to life half of the universe. If Steve hadn’t know this stuff was in fact for real then he would have thought it was some kind of fantasy story, had he been hearing about this before his time in the ice he would never have believed any of this, but now he was holding his breath and silently praying that this plan, no matter how crazy it might seem would in fact work. 

Okoye studied Tony intently, “You say you need Vibranium for the ship?” She repeated, 

“Yes.” Tony said on a heavy exhale, “And any tech and engineering experts you can spare. The ship needs major work doing on it and the more people we have, the faster it’ll be done.” 

Okoye remained silent again for several moments before speaking once more. “This is not something I can decided alone, I must speak to the remaining elders and get their opinions.”

“Do that,” Tony said, “But, please, I need an answer as soon as possible. Right now the ships mainframe and data core are intact, but the longer they are without power the more chances are they will degrade, and the longer the engines go without repair the more the damage spreads.”

“I understand,” Okoye affirmed before ending the call. 

Tony blew a breath out of his mouth and turned around, “That went well, I think that went well, do you think that went well? Friday, that went well didn’t it?”

“It went well Boss.” Friday replied,

“At least she seems willing to consider it.” Rhodey said, taking a seat with a sigh. The braces might have him walking but his back still ached constantly. 

“What will we do if they don’t agree?” Steve asked, crossing his arms over his chest and frowned, he always seemed to be frowning these days, the line between his eyes was becoming fixed in place he spent so much time with his brows knitted together.

“Make do with titanium I guess,” Tony said, “And what do you mean we, the only we is me, Lex, and Damian, possibly Diana if she’s up for it.” 

Natasha scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Come on Tony,” Rhodey said, “You need help.”

“And I’m getting it.” Tony said, his expression hard, “I need experts, mechanics, engineers, technicians. I don’t need back stabbing spies, washed up veterans, or a guy who can’t decide whose side he’s on.” Rhodey recoiled as if he’d been struck at the unexpected venom from Tony, Natasha looked affronted as did Steve.

“Are you really going to put your ego before the fate of the world, Stark?” She asked, 

“Still on that are we?” Tony shot back, “Tell me then, Natasha, what possible use would you be? What do you know about Krytonian technology, about any technology, can you rebuild computer systems or repair engines? How about a drive system? Christ, do you even know how to repair a malfunctioning plug socket?” he spat at her, “No. The only thing you are good at is manipulation and I am done with it, done with you.” 

“That’s enough, Tony.” Steve said, a warning tone in his voice urging Tony not to start a fight, 

“Yeah it is.” Tony agreed, “It ends here, the Avengers are done, deal with it.” 

“We are dealing with it!” Steve roared actually making Tony pause with surprise at his shouting, “We are trying to deal with it, trying to put things back together, it would help if you’d at least meet us half way.”

“Meet you half way?” This was perhaps not the thing to say as Tony advanced on Steve, his eyes blazing in anger, “I asked the same of you not so long ago, and what did I get in return? Oh, yeah, that’s right, a vibranium shield to my fucking chest after you lied to my face about my parents murder and then left me in the middle of no where to fucking die!”

“I have apologised for that, for all of it, I will be sorry for the rest of my life, but Tony you have to…”

“I don’t have to do anything Rogers, I don’t owe you anything.”

“No, you don’t,” Steve acceded, “What about the Spider kid, what do you owe him?” This was precisely the wrong thing to say and Tony launched himself at Steve, punching him in the face.

“Don’t you ever speak of him,” He roared at Steve, who evaded his blows but conspicuously did not really return any, just dodged Tony and blocked him, 

“Why not?” Steve taunted, “It’s Peter isn’t it, you were the one who got him involved in all of this, you were the one to get him to stop being just a crime fighter and to take on bigger threats..”

Tony let out a bellow of rage and threw himself at Steve, throwing them both to the ground, Rhodey and Natasha got out of the way, letting the two of them fight it out, although it was only Tony fighting, Steve blocked his fists, letting him exhaust himself until he couldn’t struggle anymore and sagged in defeat.

“I couldn’t stop it,” He breathed, his voice cracking, “I tried to make him stay on earth, tried to keep his safe but he… he had to be a hero, he had tag along,” Steve let go of Tony’s wrists and pulled him into a hug,

“It wouldn’t have made any difference had he been on earth or anywhere in space,” He said as Tony shook, silently crying, “It wasn’t your fault, none of this was your fault, it was all Thanos, no you, and while it might feel like it Tony, you don’t have to do all of this alone.”

“I can’t lose anyone else.” Tony whispered, “Lex and Damian are all I have left.” 

“Nah man, you got us.” Rhodey said, moving to join the pair on the floor, “And I know I ain’t a genius mechanic, but I’m a kick ass pilot, and you’re gonna need someone to fly that ship, ain’t ya?” Tony snuffled a noise that might have been a laugh or a sneeze, 

“I’ve flown planes.” Steve offered getting a scoff from Natasha, 

“You crash them into the arctic!”

“One time, one time.” Steve cried, “Can’t a man ever live something down?” 

“I dunno Cap,” Tony said, sniffing and wiping at his cheeks, “Are you still watching your language?” Steve groaned and rolled his eyes.

“I’m not a pilot, but I do learn fast.” Natasha offered, “And I can help keep everyone on a schedule, or just hand people tools, maybe track people down, whatever is needed.” She didn’t meet anyones eyes, this was as vulnerable as she was prepared to make herself, and it was a great act of trust on her part. 

Tony took a shaky breath, “How about you run the negotiations with Okoye, woman to woman might go better,” Natasha looked up and nodded, “Maybe get in touch with Nebula and that Racoon. While the Krytonian ship may get us to Thanos’ planet I’m not sure that’ll manage the trip back, especially after the energy surge the resurrection will cause, so we’ll need another way home.” 

“Captain Marvel can probably help too.” Steve said, “Would Thor have any experience with Krytonian tech?” 

“Maybe,” Tony murmured, “We can ask, and Banner would be a great help,” again he looked to Natasha, 

“I’ll see to tracking them down,” She said, “And hopefully round up Clint while I’m at it.”

“Alright then.” Steve said, getting up and offering Tony a hand to get to his feet, while he took and grimaced as his knees popped, Steve grinned and Tony glared daring him to make an age comment. 

“We should contact Pym, yes?” Rhodey asked, 

“Lex and Damian are taking care of that.” Tony replied, “I’m gonna head back to the ship and make a start on listing what needs repairing and replacing, call me as soon as Okoye has an answer?” 

Natasha nodded, and Steve spoke up, “I’ll come with you,” He smiled slightly as Tony rose an eyebrow, “You’re not alone anymore, let us help you.”


	4. Chapter 4

Sanfransisco 

Lex and Damian had no difficulty in gaining access to Pym’s lab, between their locking picking skills and sheer determination they could probably had broken into fort Knox undetected. 

It came as no surprise to them that the lab was abandoned, and all of the surfaces were covered in a layer of dust. Pym and his daughter had been reported as among the missing and it was unlikely any remaining staff would have bothered to go into the labs since the snap.   
“Alright old man, where did you hide your particles?” Lex muttered as he and Damian looked around the labs, “If I was a size shifting particle, where would I be?” 

“What’s this thing?” Damian asked, pointing a piece of equipment he didn’t recognize, 

“Fucked if I know,” Lex replied, his eyes widening as Damian reached out to touch the machine, “Which is not a reason to turn it on!” too late… 

The machine sparked into life and with a flash of light and burst of energy the Ant Man suit appeared in the lab. 

“Damn Hope it’s been hours, what the hell….” Scott Lang trailed off as he saw Lex and Damian standing in the lab, or rather he saw Dragon Fly and Robin as they were in uniform, “What’s going on, where’s Hope?” he asked, looking around the abandoned lab, “Where’s everyone?” 

“Dead.” Damian said with his usual bluntness, “Along with about two thirds of the fucking Universe.”

Scott’s eyes widened and he staggered back, thumping into one of the counters, jarring the equipment, “How… what are you talking about?” 

“Thanos.” Lex replied, “An Alien with a God complex took the Infinity stones and used them to turn half of the universe to ash. The other deaths were caused by suicides or because pilots, drivers, medical staff, and technicians had turned to ash.” He spread his arms wide as if he were gesturing to something, “Welcome to the apocalypse,” he declared with false joy, “The universe has gone to shit, but we’re trying to fix it.”

“You guys are, what are you part of the Avengers?” Scott asked, 

“Fuck no, we’re way better than those imbeciles.” Damian sneered, folding his arms over his chest and looking at Scott with unconcealed contempt, “Where are the particles?” He demanded, getting down to business.

“Particles?” Scott repeated, he was still trying to digest the information he’d received, two thirds of the universe dead, it seemed like something out of a horror movie. God he wished it was a horror movie, at least then he could shut it off and it wouldn’t be real, but it was real and Scott was living it, living in a post-apocalyptic universe.

“The Pym particles, Dumbass.” Damian snapped at him, “We need them.” 

It was a testament to how shaken up Scott was that he found himself pointing to where Hank stored them. “Wait.” He said belatedly, as Lex and Damian made a beeline for the particles, “What do you want them for?” he asked, he knew he shouldn’t let them take the particles, but he didn’t really see how he could stop them, the Metropolis Dragon was as infamous as the Gotham Bat, and said Bat’s side kick was with him! 

“We need them to go to the quantum realm to get the particles of the Infinity Stones so we can rebuild them.” Lex said, seeing no reason to lie to Scott, even though Damian was scowling darkly at him for revealing so much information.

“How will you do that?” 

“The Kryptonian ship.” 

“The Kryp.. right, yeah, okay, umm, I need to check on my daughter,” Scott said, “I need to know if she’s…” He couldn’t bring himself to say it, nor to even think that Cassie might not be alive, if he did he’d go mad. 

“Go.” Lex said with an arm wave using a decoder to crack the safe lock and open it up to get the particles, “Score.” He breathed, “We need to be careful with these, they’re they only ones we’ve got.” He added as Damian opened the case they’d brought to transport the particles back to Metropolis.

“Then you really need someone with experience of handling them.” Scott said, gaining the attention of both superheroes, Damian scoffed and he held up his hands, “I know I’ve not got a stellar reputation, I’ve fucked up a lot, but, well I’m the only one here who’s ever used those particles and as you’ve said, they are the only we’ve got, so we can’t afford mistakes.”

Lex inhaled deeply, his eyes narrowing as he studied Scott, making the other man feel like he was under a microscope, “He does have a point,” Lex said, holding his ground when Damian shot him a betrayed look, “Can we trust you though?” he countered looking to Scott, “More importantly can you work with Tony Stark without causing issues?” 

“Stark’s alive?” Scott seemed surprised by this but shrugged, “I don’t really know the man, I only met him that one time and I’ve no hard feelings, besides, I think the fate of the universe trumps misgivings doesn’t it?” 

Again Lex had to acknowledge the point and acceded to Scott’s coming to Metropolis with him and Damian once he had checked on his daughter. 

“Tony won’t be happy.” Damian predicted, as they waited for Scott to join them, “He said get the particles, not some moron in a knock off Iron Man suit.”

Lex snickered at the insult to Pym’s Antman suit reminding himself to tell Tony what Damian had said, knowing that Tony would appreciate the comment. 

“Why did you say yes to him? We can handle the particles without him around, getting under our feet, or tripping over his own.” The Wayne Heir complained, the scowl he gave was so like the one Bruce had permanently etched over his features it was like looking at a younger double of Bruce. 

“Because,” Lex said, shifting his position so he was turned to face Damian, “We have never handled Pyms particles before, nor have we ever been to the quantum realm. Scott has done both, now he might be an idiot but he could prove useful to us.”

“Glad to know I have such a ringing endorsement.” Scott sighed, he had a bag slung over his shoulder and he looked a lot less troubled now. 

“Your Daughter is alright I take it?” Lex asked, getting to his feet, 

“Yeah, she and her Mum are fine, though he step Dad is gone.” Scott replied, “But we’re gonna bring him back, right?”

“That’s the plan.” Lex said, “Providing we can repair the Kryptonian ship of course.”

*****

Metropolis.

Tony was not bothered by Scott joining them, in fact, since Scott was an electrical engineer he was happy to have him help with repairing the ship. 

Okoye had managed to convince the Elders of Wakanda to giving the Avengers the Vibranium and to send the remaining scientists and engineers out to Metropolis to work on the ship. Natasha had contacted Nebula and Rocket and they were returning to Earth, She’s also managed to contact Banner who had headed to Mexico and the Doctor had agreed to come back, but had insisted on driving himself rather than having a jet sent for him. 

Thor wasn’t answering a phone, so Steve and Rhodey went out to Norway to speak to him directly, finding the former Prince of Asgard working on becoming an alcoholic and trying to eat his feelings in the form of anything sweet and sugary.

“You know, I saw Tony on binges back in his twenties and I swear it wasn’t this bad.” Rhodey sighed as he and Steve surveyed the…. Well calling it a cabin was being generous, hut was more accurate, although Thor did have electricity and a working Smart TV, plus a fridge and a freezer for his treats and booze. 

The God of Thunder was snoring loud enough wake the dead, was sprawled half on and half off the sofa, completely naked save for a pair of Hulk boxers that clearly hadn’t been changed in days and was surrounded by empty bottles, cans, wrappers, and boxes. 

“It wasn’t?” Steve asked, eyeing the booze and feast debris with a expression that was halfway between amazement that Thor hadn’t died of alcohol and sugar over-load, and disgust at the state he was in. 

“Well there were the empty bottles, but the other debris was underwear and naked people. Really hot naked people.” Rhodey grinned wolfishly when Steve rose an eyebrow at him, “He did swimsuit models Cap, I never said I was a saint.”

Steve snorted and shook his head, then picked his way across the wreckage in the room to Thor and shook him, “Wake up.”

“No, no I will prevail,” Thor mumbled in his sleep, “You dickless wonder in your basement will not defeat the mighty Thor in his quest!” Steve looked to Rhodey who gestured to the paused game on the TV, clearly Thor had been gaming someone, and losing by the sounds of it. 

“Wake up!” Steve repeated, louder this time and considered getting a bucket of water to throw over the demi-God, who snorted, burped and blinked at Steve with glazed eyes. After a moment he beamed and lunged forward, enveloping Steve in an embrace that had Steve’s face pressed into his shirtless and unwashed chest.

“Captain! I am so gratified to see you!” Thor bellowed as Steve choked and whined under his arms, gagging at the smell of alcohol and stale sweat. “Colonel Rhodes too, ah, sit, get beer, we shall enjoy a grand time of… inebriating ourselves.”

“I think you’ve been doing enough of that, big Guy.” Rhodey said, “And can you release Steve before he suffocates?” Thor did so and Steve coughed, inhaling deeply as he staggered upright, his cheeks flushed and eyes shocked at having practically had Thor’s nipple shoved into his mouth, all he could think was that he was thankful Tony wasn’t present or he would never have heard the end of it.

“We need you to come with us,” Rhodey said, “And too, wash and dress.”

“No.” Thor said sound like a belligerent teenager,

“Thor, we need you.” Steve tried, but Thor shook his head, 

“No one needs me. I have failed everyone. My Kingdom is in ruins, my people scattered, refugees with nothing to their name, my Brother gone, all because I was not strong enough to protect them.” He slumped back on the sofa, reaching for one of the remaining cup cakes and shoved it whole into his mouth, speaking around it, “Everyone is better off without me.”

“That isn’t true.” Steve said, “None of this is your fault Thor, it was Thanos. He is the only one to blame.”

“Do not say thaaa…” Thor broke off as he rose to his feet too fast, over balanced and ended up toppling to the floor, face first into melted ice cream. “My world has melted away, my courage is now like this frozen dessert.” Thor mumbled, “Insubstantial and runny.”

Steve looked to Rhodey who sighed and shrugged, “You get his ass into a shower, or, hell the damn lake, I’ll try and find him some clothes in this pig sty.” 

“Oh, I get the easy job of dealing with drunk, depressed, naked Thor!” Steve complained and Thor laughed, spraying ice cream as he did and looked up with it dripping off his nose and chin, 

“I once saw a naked Hulk.” He declared holding up a hand, which Steve grabbed and hauled him to his feet, groaning when he was treated to Thor’s full body weight slumping against him, “He stepped out of a hot tub and had everything on show…” 

“Great, that’s great, why don’t you tell me about it while we get you cleaned and sobered up.” Steve said, walking Thor in what he hoped was the direction to the bathroom, if not he was just going to dump the God into the lake.

Once Thor was showered, dressed, and Rhodey had tipped about two pints of coffee down his throat, he was more receptive to listening to them explain why they were there and what the plan was for undoing what Thanos had done. 

“Krypton was a very advanced world, Asgard had little dealing with them, I know little of them and their technologies, only that they were capable of incredible things.” Thor mused, gulping down the last of the coffee, 

“You do know something though.” Steve pointed out, “Anything you can tell us will be a help, and we do need the assistance of people who have experience piloting space ships.”

“Aye,” Thor agreed, “And maybe by assisting Friend Stark I can find redemption.”

“Yeah, which’ll be better than type two diabetes and liver failure if you stay here.” Rhodey pointed out.

“Then you’ll come to Metropolis with us?” Steve asked, and Thor nodded, 

“I shall, good Captain, let us leave this depressing hovel and travel back to the States of the United Peoples.” It seemed pointless to remind him that it was called the United States. 

*****

Metropolis.

Since Lex’s penthouse couldn’t possibly accommodate everyone coming to work on the ship, the empty buildings around the site were appropriated by himself and Tony to put up the Wakandans, Stark Industries, Lexcorp, and Wayne Enterprises scientists as they arrived at the ship and began to get to work. 

Sadly they were only two days into organizing who would work where and on what, when trouble arrived, in the form of Secretary Ross.


	5. Chapter 5

It was Lex who alerted Tony to Ross’s presence as the Secretary made his way to the ship, flanked on either side by CIA agents in customary dark suits and sunglasses. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Tony hissed, getting to his feet, He’d been going over schematics that the engineers had been drawing up, and set them down with care so they wouldn’t get blown away. 

“Unbelievable. Half the fucking universe turns to ash and that bastard survives.”

“Tell me about it.” Lex muttered, going with Tony to meet Ross. For once Lex wasn’t even bothering to hide his identity, considering the state of the world, maintaining his secret identity as the Metropolis Dragonfly didn’t seem important anymore. 

“Is this going to be trouble?” Damian asked, fingering his katana, looking very keen to shove it down the Secretary’s throat,

“Probably.” Lex said, 

“Then let me handle it,” Damian made to go and tackle the Secretary but Tony caught him by the shoulder and pulled him back,

“Easy Murder Baby,” Tony soothed, “Lets not gut the Secretary of State just yet.”

“Why, he’s an asshole!” Damian pouted, honest to God pouted at not being allowed to murder Ross. 

“Because getting rid of the body will be a hassle we can do without.” Lex said, placing his hand on Damian’s other shoulder so that if necessary he could help Tony restrain the murderous child.

Ross, glared at the trio as they approached him, meeting him at the end of the walkway that led down to the scout ship. 

“Is there a reason you’ve decided to come and infect our airspace with your presence?” Lex inquired, not even bothering to pretend to be polite, “And did you really need to bring your rent boys with you?” he leered at the CIA agents who remained expressionless, “Huh, I take it back, they’re not rent boys, they’re automatons.”

Ross graced Lex with a glacial smile, “What they are, Mr Luthor, is my protection against you freaks.” 

It took the strength of both Tony and Lex to keep Damian from leaping forward and attacking Ross, “Who are you calling a freak, You decrepit fossil?” he snarled.

“Employing delinquent minors now, Stark?” Ross asked, sneering at him, “Although I don’t know why I am surprised, especially when you have chosen to take up with a notorious vigilante and trespass on government property.” 

Tony scoffed at that, “Government property? What Government? It all turned to Ash thanks to Thanos, and this ship is not Government Property, it belongs to Kal-El, and by proxy, his chosen mate,” he looked to Lex, “The Metropolis Dragonfly,” 

Lex lifted his chin and gave the Secretary an imperious smirk, “If anyone’s trespassing, it’s you and your little minions.” 

“Yeah, so why don’t you all fuck off before I eviscerate you?” Damian growled, Lex glanced over Damian’s head to Tony, 

“It’s tempting to let him,”

“Yeah, but think of the clean up,” Tony said with an exaggerated roll of his eyes, “Blood never comes out and we’ve got enough to do cleaning up the ship.” Lex made a Neh noise and shrugged, looking back to Ross, 

“Thirty seconds.” He said, 

“What?” the Secretary barked, 

“You’ve got thirty seconds to fuck off and then we let the Murder baby loose, and he hasn’t had the chance to kick the shit out of anyone in days so he’s got a lot of energy to kill.” 

Damian grinned, showing his teeth menacingly, but the roar of a jet engine caught everyone’s attention and they turned to watch the Avenger Jet setting down and Rhodey, Steve, and Thor exiting the air craft. 

“Friend Stark, you have comrades in arms for us to ally with!” Thor boomed, he’d sobered up and recovered from his hang-over with enviable speed on the flight to America, and was now his usual boisterous self again and looking to envelope everyone in a bone crushing embrace.

“Oh great,” Damian grunted, rolling his eyes, “Another dumbass alien.” Tony sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, 

“It won’t actually kill you to be pleasant for once.” 

“Screw you!” 

“Is everything okay here?” Rhodey asked, as they joined, Tony, Lex, and Damian, before Ross and his minions. 

“Peachy,” Lex replied, “We’ve exchanged insults and now Ross is fucking off, isn’t that right?”

Ross ignored Lex in favour of glaring at Rhodey, “Arrest this man,” He commanded the CIA men, “He is to be court marshalled for inviting terrorists back into this country and harbouring fugitives from the law.”

Rhodey scoffed and rolled his eyes, “Are you kidding me?” 

“Stay back!” Damian leaped forward and swung his Katana threateningly, a murderous gleam in his eyes as he put himself between the CIA Agents and Rhodey. 

“This is bullshit Ross,” Tony said, not even bothering to suit up, although Lex took out his rapier with its elegant dragon head handle and took up a fighting stance, “The whole Universe has gone to shit and you want to pick a fight with us over Rhodey having Rogers and the others try and prevent Thanos from succeeding, seriously, what the fuck are you smoking, because no sane person gives a flying fuck about the accords or anything right now.”

“As I recall, Stark, you supported the accords, are you turning your back on them now?” Ross goaded, “Well you always were feckless and flighty, why should I be surprised by this now?”

“How dare you?” Thor bellowed, a rumble of thunder in the sky warned everyone that his temper was rising and even Ross had to swallow hard at the sight of an angered God of Thunder. Tony however held his temper and met Ross’s gaze head on. 

“I still stand by my decision regarding the accords, there needs to be some form of over-sight for superheroes, we should be held responsible for our actions and be answerable to the people, all people, not just tin pot dictators like you. Right now, at this moment, there is no law, no real governing body, there are just a lot of frightened, grieving people in need, and instead of helping them, you are out here picking a bitch fight over something that really doesn’t matter to anyone.”

He pointed over his shoulder to the ship, “This could solve our problems. We might have a chance of undoing what Thanos has done, but only if you leave us the fuck alone and let us get on with it.”

By now a crowd had been drawn of the engineers, and civilians who had come to see what was going on at the ship. They all cheered their support of Tony’s speech, some added less than polite suggestions of what Ross should go and do with himself in explicit detail.

“You’ve got no play here, Ross,” Natasha said, silently joining them, “You can’t arrest us, your authority is non-existent right now, and if you turn this into a fight, you will loose what little hope you have of maintaining any semblance of power.”

“Is that a threat, Agent Romanoff?” Ross sneered, and Natasha gave him a chilling smile, 

“If it was a threat you could tell by the fact I’d be crushing your wind pipe right now.”

“Go back to DC, Ross, go and play politician while we save the Universe.” Lex snarled at him, 

Ross looked to one of the CIA Agents, “Arrest him for Vigilantism, GBH, ABH, and anything else you can think of!” 

“Sir?” the agent looked uncertain, 

“Son?” Steve said, “You don’t have to do what he says, I’ll bet you’ve lost someone, you too,” He nodded to the second agent, “You want to get them back, we might have a way to do that, but we need to be allowed to work without interruption.”

“You work for me!” Ross exploded when the agents stepped back, wavering in their duty, “Arrest them, arrest Stark too, for breech of the accords!” When neither agents moved to obey, Ross snarled, drawing a gun from inside his jacket and fired at Tony!

Lex shoved Tony down, his Kevlar protecting him from the bullets that Ross fired almost wildly, trying to hit anyone of the team that he could, he shoved the agents aside, a madness shining in his eyes as shot at Steve, then at Natasha, and Damian as the boy attacked, his katana knocking the gun from Ross’s hands and slicing open the man’s palm as he did.

“You little bastard,” Ross roared, he then felt a tap on his shoulder, turned and was greeted with a fist to the face from Scott, who’d shrunk down, run around behind Ross and grown back to normal size.

“Damn that hurts!” Scott complained, shaking out his knuckles as Ross sprawled at his feet, cursing and holding his bloody nose. 

“Stay down, or die,” Damian growled, placing his katana at Ross’s throat.

“Well that was fun,” Tony muttered, as Lex moved off him, wincing at the bruises forming from where the Kevlar had deflected the bullets, “Is everyone alright?” Tony yelled out, affirmative replies followed as people got back on their feet or came out from where they’d sort shelter.

“Gentlemen,” Rhodey said to the CIA Agents, “Secretary Ross has just fired on a civilian population, I believe such actions make him unfit for office and gives you the authority to arrest him.” 

“How dare you?” Ross bellowed, but was dragged to his feet by the first Agent who cuffed him non to gently, 

“It’ll be a pleasure, Colonel Rhodes,” the second agent said, he sighed at the team, “I can’t guarantee that you’ll be left alone now, but we’ll try and convince the remaining government not to interfere. Ross certainly won’t be an issue, not where he’s going.” 

“We’re very sorry for the trouble.” The first agent said, dragging a struggling and protesting Ross to the helicopter to take him back to DC, “Good luck, and God Bless you all.”

Rhodey elbowed Thor in the ribs, “Hear that? You need to bless us!” Thor looked equal parts amused and confused by the suggestion. 

As the chopper took off a figure standing behind it became visible and Lex broke into a smile, “Diana!”

Wonder Woman sauntered over to them, drawing the appreciative gazes of every hetero man and gay woman in the vicinity, “It seems I’ve missed some fun,” She said looking around, “Though there is still much work to be done, I assume?” She looked to Tony who nodded,

“Yeah, and anything you can tell us about Kyrptonian tech will be greatly appreciated, you and Thor for what matter.”

Diana lifted her gaze to regard Thor, “You are he who claims to have Zeus’ power?”

Thor stood his ground, “Aye, I am the almighty Thor, God of Thunder and Fertility.”

“Indeed,” Diana did not seem entirely impressed, but then she was the slayer of Ares, God of War. Dismissing Thor for the moment she looked back to Tony, “What you are attempting to do is very dangerous, we have no idea what will happen if the infinity stones are exposed to amniotic fluids of the Kryptonian ship.”

“You said the same about Clark and that worked out.” Lex pointed out, “He was freaked out at first, but who wouldn’t be? Coming back from the dead would mess anyone up and he came through it.”  
“It’s not like we’ve got anything to lose at this point.” Rhodey said shrugging his shoulders, 

“We have our lives.” Diana corrected, then sighed heavily, bowing her head, “But I could not live said life without at least trying to bring back those who have been lost.” She raised her head and met Tony’s gaze, “So, let us see what can be done.”


	6. Chapter 6

Metropolis.

Lexcorp penthouse.

Lex sat out on the balcony with Tony sharing a fifty year old malt scotch while going over the schematics that had been drawn up.

“Clark said that there was an AI of his Father that Zod… well I don’t know if he destroyed it, but it might still be in the matrix.” Lex said sipping the scotch, “He said that Jor-el explained what had happened to Krypton and why he’d been sent to Earth.”

“It was an outpost wasn’t it?” Tony asked, looking up with a frown as he worked on a tablet with a stylis. “Krypton had several outposts throughout the galaxy when they were at their peak.” Lex nodded his head, 

“Uh huh, there was writing in a cave in Smallville, and activation crystals that eventually took him to the arctic, and of course he eventually found the ship which inadvertently brought Zod and his fuckwits here.” 

“Always has to be a fuckwit to fuck things up.” 

“Always,” Lex agreed, grinning at Tony and finishing his glass, he reached for the bottle and poured himself another two fingers and offered Tony top up to which he nodded his head, studying the schematics and frowning,

“It couldn’t have been the only one.” He said,

“Huh?”

“The ship,” Tony said, looking up at Lex, “If this was an outpost then they can’t have left just one ship here, there had to be more.”

“Maybe,” Lex said, “I don’t think Clark ever looked. That one ship was buried in ice that had been down for twenty thousand years, any other Krytonian tech is likely to be similarly buried, so getting to it would be difficult to say the least.”

“True.” Tony agreed. He sat back with a sigh, “I don’t know if I can do this.” He admitted, “Even with Thor and Diana’s help we’re in the dark on this, trying piece together tech we know practically nothing about with our own tech and hope for the best.” Shaking his head he got up from the table and went to stand besides the rail, looking out over the city. 

Metropolis was usually as busy as New York. The nightlife keeping the city alive even in darkness, with restaurants, clubs, bars, and take aways lighting up the streets at night. But not anymore, now the streets were empty, people weren’t going out at night, were barely going out during the day and no one felt like going out to eat or spend the night partying.

“Everything is resting on my being able to do this. To pull a rabbit out of a hat, perform a technical miracle like I always do, but what if this time I can’t?” He turned, leaning his back against the rail, “I’ve given these people something to hope for, a fix all, what if I can’t pull it off.” 

“You will, we will.” Lex said. He pushed back from the table and joined Tony at the railing, “We can do this, and maybe we are going in blind, but you built a miniature arc reactor and the first Iron Man suit in a cave from scraps, you created a new element in your basement when you were days if not hours away from dying, you can do this, I know you can do this.”

“But what if I can’t?” Tony whispered, his breath catching in his throat. He felt tears burning in his eyes and refused to shed them, swallowed hard on the sob that wanted to break free from his throat. 

“I saw all of this you know? I knew this was coming, I knew it wasn’t over in 2012. I saw all the death, all the destruction and no one listened, no one believed me. I made Ultron because I wanted to protect this world from Thanos, I gave the Avengers everything I could think of to make them strong and able to fight, but none of it was enough, in the end we didn’t stand a chance.” He sniffed and wiped at his eyes with his sleeve, blinking back more tears as he thought of Peter, of that battle on Titan. 

“There was a moment when we nearly had the glove off, a moment we almost stopped it, and I don’t blame Quill for lashing out. God knows I did the same to Steve over my Parents. But I just keep thinking back and wishing that I’d just cut the bastards arm off. If I’d have done that then all of this could have been avoided.”

“And if I had made sure Lionel was dead then Clark wouldn’t have been killed by Doomsday. If Bruce had listened to reason then he and Clark would never have fought. We all have perfect vision in hindsight Tony, and none of this is your fault.”

“But not being able to do this will be.” Tony said, gazing at Lex with eyes that shone with unshed tears, “What if I let everyone down?”

A frown flitted over Lex face and he shook his head and placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder squeezing gently, “You can never do that.”

“He sure can’t.” 

Both Lex and Tony jumped when Rhodey appeared in the sky besides them, a grin light up on his face when he saw that he’d startled them. 

“Bell, neck, look into it.” Lex sniped at him, scowling darkly. His heart rate was just about to return to baseline when Damian leaped out onto the balcony with a battle cry, his katana drawn and ready to fight.

“Whoa, down murder baby.” Tony said, pushing Damian’s arms down, “It’s only Uncle Rhodey, not a thief or psychotic clown.” (The Joker had been one of those who’d turned to ash, so at least they didn’t have to worry about dealing with his shit.)

“I come in peace!” Rhodey chuckled, holding his hands upwards in the gesture of surrender to which Damian sneered at him disgustedly.

“A true warrior never surrenders.” He stated, jutting his chin proudly and scowling at Rhodey. “Why are you here?” he demanded, sounding as imperious as a king, despite the fact he was wearing a pair of batman pyjamas that Dick had bought him as a Christmas present, had bedhead, and was bare foot.

Rhodey smiled cheerfully and rose up a little higher into the air, to cross over onto the balcony where he set down. 

“I needed to talk to your Step-Mother, and Uncle Lex.” 

“Step-Mother!” Tony cried indignantly, 

“You kind of are.” Lex unhelpfully offered, and grinned at the glare he received, wrapping an arm loosely about Damian’s shoulders, “Come on, Murder brat, lets get you tucked back into bed.”

“Tucked in? I’m not a kid!” Damian protested, but he didn’t resist Lex guiding him back to the spare room he was using as a bedroom. For all of his protests and vehement denial of being anything but the ruthless, cold blooded warrior that the League of Shadows had attempted to mould him into, Damian was actually quite a tactile boy and did like to be indulged like this. He might never say it out-loud, but he loved his family fiercely and was missing them all greatly, hence his wearing the batman pyjamas, and the few items he’d taken to bed, that he tried to hide under the covers and pillows to Lex wouldn’t see them.

A battered old teddy-bear that belonged to Dick. A baseball cap that belonged to Jason, and an Iron-Man T-Shirt that belonged to Tim. There was also a waistcoat that looked like one of Alfred’s, and a pair of Bruce’s Batman gauntlets.

Lex smiled a little, making no comment over the items. God knows he was wearing Clark’s shirts and Tony was wearing Bruce’s more often than not. They were all finding ways to comfort themselves.

“Do you want a bedtime story?” he teased Damian, making a show of tucking him in,

“Do you want your eyeballs gauging out?” Damian shot back, glowering at him. Lex snorted and ruffled the boys hair, accepting the slap his hand got for the fact that Damian leaned into the touch before he shoved Lex away.

“Now you can come to me and Tony if you need anything in the night.” He said to the boy as he made his way to the door,

“Why would I need either of you?” 

Lex rolled his eyes fondly and closed the door, not pulling it all the way too since Damian liked it left slightly open, so the light would come in from the safety lights in the hall and he wouldn’t be in complete darkness. 

He made his way back to the balcony where Rhodey and Tony were talking. 

“All safely tucked in?” Tony asked, 

“He is.” Lex replied, and turned his attention to Rhodey. “What brings you here?” he asked the Colonel. He had never quite warmed to Rhodey despite all the years he’d known Tony. Having had few friends in life and a toxic family environment with Lionel, he had been jealous of anyone who shared a friendship with Tony and Bruce, wanting them to himself and had seen Rhodey as a threat to that. 

He knew by now that Rhodey was not a threat and that he wouldn’t take Tony away from him, but part of Lex would always be reserved to the Colonel and would certainly never forgive him for stealing the War Machine armour when Tony was dying.

“Natasha and I have located Barton.” Rhodey replied, “He’s in Rio of all places, take out what remains of the gangs.” 

“They’re going to fly down and bring him home.” Tony said, “He should be with us. We’re the only family he has left.”

Knowing that feeling all to well Lex nodded and bit back any scathing comments that he might have otherwise made. 

“We’ll try not to be too long.” Rhodey said, “But if you get the ship running in that time, don’t fly off without us.” Tony snorted, 

“I think it’ll take more than a few days to get it up and running, Platypus.”

“Yeah well, I just want to be sure.” Rhodey said, his eyes meeting Tony’s and saying what he was not saying aloud. ‘We’ve lost too many, I nearly lost you in a space ship once I don’t want to do it again.’ 

“We’ll be here when you get back.” Tony assured him and stifled a yawn,

“You should get to bed,” Rhodey advised him, “We all should. Diana is insisting that everyone be up and alert at dawn, so you’ll want to get as much sleep as possible.” Lex groaned,

“Who put her in charge of schedules again?” 

“She put herself in charge with Natasha as co-leader.” Tony replied, “Want to argue with them?”

“I value my skin too much!” 

The three bid a goodnight to each other and Lex and Tony secured the schematics and put away the scotch, heading for their beds to get a few hours sleep before starting work again the following day.

*****

Rhodey and Natasha set off after breakfast in the Quinjet, heading for Brazil, leaving the others to get on with the repairs of the ship. 

With their super strength, Steve, Diana, and Thor were tasked with stripping the damaged metals from the ships hull so it could be replaced with Vibranium that the Wakandan engineers were preparing to weld onto the craft once it was stripped. 

“So this Kryptonian had abilities?” Thor asked as he pulled back a huge sheet of metal as easily as if it were a bed sheet.

“Indeed.” Diana replied, “He could shoot laser beams from his eyes, breathe frost, fly, move at incredible speed, and had strength to rival our own.” 

“And X-Ray vision, don’t forget that.” Steve added, unlike them he was using a crow bar to pry the metal free before moving it, and he was wearing gloves to protect his hands, where they didn’t need it. “Also the hearing was incredible I believe.”

Diana smiled, “It was.” She confirmed, “The radiation from this yellow star and Earth’s forgiving atmosphere gave him these abilities which he would not have had on Krypton.”

“Tis sad that such a noble race fell.” Thor mused. A situation he could well understand with the fall of Asgard. “At their prime there were the dominant power throughout the Galaxy, had a vast empire throughout the star systems.”

“So what went wrong?” Steve asked, “Why did they fall?”

Diana shrugged, “Time. Nothing lasts forever, Captain. The end is a fact of life, of nature, one can only fight it for a time but eventually everything turns back into the dust we came from.” She paused, seeing the depressed look that was settling over Steve’s face, “But from that dust, new things arise. The eternal cycle of the Universe. Stars are born, they live and give life, and upon their death they start the cycles anew.”

Steve relaxed, a small smile replacing the frown he’d been wearing, “That doesn’t sound so bad,” He admitted,

“Yeah, you know what else doesn’t sound bad, you putting your back into it?” This came from Tony who flew up in the Iron-Man armour and hovered next to the ship.

“We are, slave driver.” Steve shot back without heat,

“Careful or I’ll send Damian up here.” Tony threatened, making Steve grimace and rub at his sore hand, which Damian had nearly sliced in half, when Steve had tried to reach for the last sausage.

“You need to keep that murderous brat on a leash.”

“Nonsense, good Captain,” Thor declared, “Damian is a wonderfully energetic, most skilled with weapons and possesses a degree of cunning that reminds me of Loki.” 

Steve looked over his shoulder at Tony, whose eyes had widened. Comparing Damian to Loki was probably not the compliment that Thor thought it was. 

“Hey Tony?” Scott called from below them, “We’re gonna start hooking up the computers and running diagnostics,” 

“Okay, I’m coming.” Tony said, he saluted Thor, Steve, and Diana, and descended down to Scott, tapping his chest so the armour disappeared back into the nano-reactor.

“Tis good to see Stark in armour again.” Thor declared, ripping apart more metal, “Tis a part of him as Storm-breaker is a part of me.”

“Yeah it is.” Steve agreed, thinking of the Shield and how it was also a part of himself, like Natasha’s Widow bites and Clint’s bow. He suspected that the cowl and cape were like that for Bruce Wayne, and wondered what it would be like to meet the man, whom the press portrayed as an idiot, and whose friends knew him as a genius. 

With luck, and getting this ship operational again, then he would get that chance, and not only to meet Bruce Wayne, but also Superman, The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. As well as Nightwing, Red Hood, and Red Robin. 

Determinedly Steve returned to his work with renewed effort, more eager than ever to get the ship repaired.


	7. Chapter 7

Clint was a man used to being in the shadows. He was a sniper, an assassin. It had been his job to be unseen by the world. To stay hidden and strike with silent but deadly accuracy. 

For the past few years he’d been living in the light, with his family, his beautiful wife and wonderful children. He’d all but separated himself from his past, thought he’d left the shadows of his previous world behind him. 

Then they were gone.

Snatched away like two thirds of the planet’s population. 

Clint had wanted to kill himself. He’d tried, hell he’d put his gun in his mouth but at the last minute he hadn’t been able to pull the trigger and end it all. The survival instinct was too deeply ingrained in him after so many years of service to shield and the Avengers. 

The Avengers.

In his darkest moments Clint hated them. He hated that they’d failed, that they’d not been strong enough to stop Thanos, to save his family. He hated Steve for not being willing to compromise, for lying about the Stark’s deaths, for throwing everything to hell for his buddy Barnes. 

He hated Sam for being Steve’s lap dog, always jumping to his command without a second of hesitation. 

He hated Natasha for fighting against him and then turning her coat so easily, just as she had when she’d defected from Russia and joined Shield. 

He hated Banner and Thor for not being there.

He hated Wanda for her mind raping, her lack of control over her powers. 

He hated Vision for his puppy dog romance and complete blind sightedness when it came to Wanda. 

He hated Tony for fighting Steve, for turning his back on the Avengers, for leaving on that space ship. 

But most of all he hated himself.

He hated that he hadn’t been there to fight Thanos, that’d he’d been having a BBQ with his family instead fighting for their safety. Maybe if he had then things wouldn’t have turned out this way. 

Giving into his hatred was easy. It hurt less than his grief. It was better it seemed to feel that burning rage than that crushing despair, he could use his rage, put it too good use. 

Which was what he was doing, taking out the criminals that the snap hadn’t already seen to. 

He’d started in Mexico and moved on from there, heading down to Brazil, to deal with the gangs that were trying to take over Rio in the absence of any real government or law. 

It was easy to find them the bastards weren’t even bothering to hide anymore. Without a legal presence they had little need to, were even parading around the streets, firearms on display with their gang colours and shooting at everything that moved, whether they were rival gang members or not. 

Clint had little trouble taking out the foot soldiers. Most were low rent knuckles draggers who had just enough brain power to know how a gun worked. But it was the higher-ups that he wanted, the bosses. That took some time. These bastards didn’t get their hands dirty, liked to send out their thugs to do it while they drank champagne, ate steak, and snorted coke off silver trays. 

After several days of digging Clint finally found the villa of one of the bosses. A charmless asshole who thought nothing of using children as drug mules to get his dope across the borders, pimping teenage girls, and slaughtering anyone who dared question him. 

He waited until it was dusk before he approached the villa, taking out the guards on the gate with ease. An arrow each to the throat killing them both silently. 

He was just about to scale the gate when he was struck from behind, electric shocks running through his body as he toppled to the ground. 

“Tasha!” he groaned his body shaking with the volts running through him. 

“Sorry Clint, but you didn’t give us much choice.” She said, before Clint could ask what “Us” meant, War Machine dropped down behind her. 

“He okay?” Rhodey asked, the face plate sliding up as Natasha took off the widow bites, Clint answered the question with curt fine, while Kicking Natasha in the face and leaping back to his feet, Natasha was of course ready for him, he had never been able to take her at hand to hand, she was always better skilled there than he was. 

She blocked every blow he tried to land on her, dancing away from him with easy grace, and kicking his legs out from under him with so much ease it was humiliating. Clint didn’t even bother putting up a fight as she turned him on his back and cuffed his wrists tightly, too tightly for him to get free of them. 

“You could have just said Hi,” He grumbled as she dragged him to his feet and shoved him forward, he gave Rhodey a leer, “It’s what polite people do.”

“Is that right?” the Colonel responded looking to the dead bodies by the gate rather pointedly.

“What do you freakin’ want?” He demanded of them, tugging on the cuffs even thought he knew it was useless. 

“We want you home,” Natasha said her expression hard, and Clint scoffed,

“I don’t have a home anymore, Natasha. My home, my family are gone.” He said with bitter resignation.

“We might have a way of getting them back.” Rhodey said.

This gave Clint a moment of pause, he looked at Natasha who nodded her head, “It’s true. Stark…” Clint let out a loud groan,

“Stark. Of course, it’s always fucking Stark!”

“Hey man, tone it down.” Rhodey said, “I know you’re hurting, but I ain’t letting you take it out on Tony.” Clint sneered at Rhodey, knowing he was wrong to be acting like this but just needing something to lash out at.

“He’s got a way of undoing what Thanos has done.” Natasha said, “We’re going to use the Kryptonian ship to get the infinity stones back and use them to undo all this.”

“The Kryptonian ship, the one that landed in Metropolis during Black Zero?”

“Right. It’s got an amniotic chamber that was capable of creating Doomsday when Lionel Luthor was doing his destroy Superman thing, it also had the power to resurrect Superman.” 

Clint blinked, “So the rumours are true, he really did come back.”

“Yes,” Natasha confirmed, “Only to be taken away again during the snap.” She sighed and shrugged her shoulders, “We don’t know if it’ll work, but we’re all trying. Even Wonder Woman, Dragonfly and Robin are working with us. Hell the Wakandan’s are giving is Vibranium and helping repair the ship.”

Clint rolled his lips, “That’s great Tash, but what do you need me for?” he asked, “I’m no mechanic or tech genius, I hardly know a damn thing about computers beyond E-Mail and how to use the Net.”

“You do what we’re doing.” Rhodey said, “Help where you’re needed. Grunt work if you wanna call it that, lifting and carrying. It might not sound like much but it’s gotta be done.”

“Help get supplies, check on people throughout the City. Make sure Tony and Lex actually remember to eat and sleep and that Damian doesn’t stab anyone.”

“Who?” Clint asked and Rhodey snorted, 

“We’ll catch you up on the jet.” He said, “Assuming you’re coming that is?” 

Clint looked between the two of them, “Do I gotta choice?” Natasha gave him a smile that was pure evil, promising a world of pain and humiliation if he continued to put up a fight. “In the interests of keeping my limbs intact and what little is left of my dignity, I’ll come with you.”

*****

Metropolis

Lex hated sleeping since Doomsday’s attack. Or rather he hated dreaming. The nightmares of Clark’s death being replayed in front of him were bad enough, but the memories of being with Clark were worse. 

Because they haunted him. Had him awakening warm and hopeful, at least until he saw the empty side of the bed where Clark was supposed to be, buried under the bed covers, softly snoring. 

A delicious, golden skinned Adonis that Lex adored to tease into waking, sliding down under the covers and putting his mouth over Clark’s cock, licking, sucking, and tormenting Clark until he was coming down his throat. 

He'd then squirm his way up to lay on top of Clark, arching like a cat when those impossible strong yet gentle hands cupped his back and held him close. Clark had a way of looking at him, those expressive eyes gazing at him as if Lex were the most precious thing in the world and Clark could hardly believe that he had him in his arms. 

It was what Lex missed the most. He missed everything about Clark, but those mornings they spent together, those he missed most of all. 

The way Clark would roll them over so he was covering Lex with his larger body, he always had a thing for doing it that way, liking to have Lex beneath him, writhing helpless on his cock while also being protected and shielded by Clark’s broad frame. 

Lex had always felt rather dwarfed by Clark, even when he’d been a teenager he’d been taller than Lex, and he hadn’t stopped growing, had added several more inches until he stood a good head above Lex. 

Some men might have been intimidated by that, might have taken it as a slight to their masculinity, but Lex had liked it, liked the way he could easily bury his head in Clark’s broad chest and feel those solid arms wrap around him. 

He could remember the first time Clark had held him when they’d been intimate, how nervous Clark had been of hurting him with his strength, how he’d wanted to touch and taste every inch of Lex’s whip cord lean body, driving Lex half mad with his caressing and kissing. 

Lex had been to bed with plenty of people over the years, but he could safely say that no one had ever made him feel as enraptured or taken him to such heights of ecstasy as Clark Kent. 

“Now I’ve got you, I am never letting you go.” Clark had said against Lex’s ear as he’d spooned around him, practically covering Lex with his body as he’d held him, his warm breath and the sound of his heart lulling Lex into sleep, feeling safer and more contented than ever before in his life. 

Sniffing, Lex wiped at his cheeks where a few tears had fallen and reached over to the picture of him and Clark that was sat on the night stand. It had been taken when Clark had graduated College, he’d been holding Lex in his arms like a bride, a bright grin on his face as he’d beamed down into Lex’s smiling face. 

“I miss you.” Lex whispered to the picture, tracing a finger over Clark’s face, “I need you to come back to me, just one more time Clark, one more miracle, please.”

******

When Banner arrived in a battered station wagon with the doors missing and the roof ripped off Tony had to do a double take. 

The Scientist was not how he’d last seen him, human and drawn. He was now green and about eight feet tall with broad shoulders and firm muscles over his heightened frame. 

“Uh, hi.” Tony stammered looking Banner over, “Been eating a lot of spinach?” 

Banner snorted a familiar chagrined smile spreading over his face, “Hey Tony.” He greeted looking around, “Looks like you’ve got the repairs well underway.”

“Yeah, we do.” Tony said, still taken aback by Bruce’s new appearance. “So umm, how have you been, how’s the other guy been?” 

This time Banner’s smile was broad. “We’ve been good. Been doing some soul searching I guess, Hulk and I kind of bonded and.. well…” he spread his arms gesturing to himself as Scott appeared, 

“Hey Tony we need… whoa!” He stopped and gaped at Banner, “Holy shit.”

“Banner this is Scott, Pissant this is Banner.” Tony said making introductions, Scott continued to gape even as Banner held out a hand for him to shake and Thor let out a cheerful bellow at the sight of his friend and leaped down from the top of the ship.

“Looks like everyone is here then.” Banner said, 

“Almost.” Tony replied, “Rhodey and Nat are bringing Clint from Rio, and Rocket and Nebula are on their way back from space, they should be here the day after tomorrow.” He grinned and patted Banner’s massive arm, “C’mon, I’ll introduce you to everyone and then we’ll get you settled in. I think we might need to customize a bed for you though.”

“And get some food.” Banner said, walking along with Tony which was a comical sight to behold, a giant great behemoth besides a rather petite man, “I’m always starving these days.”

“No problem, Lex is used to Clark’s bottomless pit of a stomach so we’ll get that sorted.”

“Lex, Clark?” 

“As I said, I’ll introduce you and get you caught up.”


	8. Chapter 8

“Bruce Wayne is Bat Man, his adopted and biological son have all been Robin at some point, and Lex Luthor is Dragonfly, and that country boy lame ass reporter who falls over his own feet and has glasses so thick they could double as milk bottles, is actually Superman.” 

Clint sighed, trying to take all this in. Somehow he was having difficulty reconciling the clumsy, reporter, Clark Kent, to the all powerful Kal-El of Krypton. Not to mention the brain dead, drunken idiot Bruce Wayne, who had once burned his own home to the ground, to the mysterious and deadly Dark Knight of Gotham City. 

“And Stark knew about this. Has known about this for years and said nothing.”

“Not his secret to tell.” Rhodey said, glancing over his shoulder at Clint who shrugged, he wasn’t making an accusation, just a statement.

“It’s pretty impressive that it kept it all a secret for so long.” Natasha said, “When he didn’t keep his own identity secret for more than five minutes.”

“That was partly to piss Shield off, you know.” Rhodey said, a small smile curving his lips as he recalled the infamous “I am Iron Man.” Speech that Tony had given.

“It was a pretty stupid cover story anyway.” Clint said, “A body guard. I mean come on, who the hell was going to believe that?” He stretched out in his seat and closed his eyes, they weren’t far from Metropolis now and he decided to rest his eyes before they got there. “What are they like then?” he asked folding his hands behind his head. 

“Who?” Natasha asked back.

“Wayne’s Son, and Luthor.”

“Lex is a little difficult.” Rhodey said, diplomatically, “As is Damian.”

Natasha scoffed, “Lex is even snarkier than Stark, with a worse attitude, and far more volatile temper that he’ll happily take out on anyone around him. Damian is a demonic brat who has to be restrained from committing murder.”

Rhodey gave Natasha a look, as if to say “Really?” She shrugged, it was true. 

“This should be fun then.” Clint said with a wry grin.

*****

If meeting Lex Luthor and Damian Wayne were not astonishing enough, then seeing a Hulk sized Bruce Banner certainly was. 

Clint was pretty sure he’d walked into an actual circus when they set down in Metropolis. It certainly seemed that way, with Superheroes walking around, along with Wakandans, and WE, LC, and SI, techs working on the ship. There were also survivors of the Snap gathered around the ship, offering to help out in anyway that they could, even if it was just to help cook food, which was being done on several large BBQ’s and a brick oven that had been set up, to help feed everyone that was descending on the site. 

Steve was apparently on Food purchasing duty this day, as he returned to the site, equipped with a trolley filled to the brim with food, and a about a dozen teenagers following him all pushing their own carts. 

“We’ve got baby formula for anyone who needs it,” He called out as he brought the cavalcade of shopping carts to a halt, “And bottled water, nappies, talc, tampons, and sanitary towels.” To his credit he didn’t blush as many men would have in talking about Women’s hygiene products, and Clint saw several women and Teenage girls hurry over to the carts to get what they needed to deal with their monthly bleeding. 

The Mothers, Father’s, and Guardians of infants soon had the formula milk shared out between them, along with the nappies, and talc. 

“At least the supply trucks are making their way in now.” He said as he walked up to join Natasha and Clint, tossing an apple between his hands and took a large bite from it. “Hopefully we won’t have to ration anything.”

“With so many less mouths to feed we should have an abundance.” Natasha murmured, it should have been that simple, but really it wasn’t, because fewer people meant that there were fewer people to move the produce from A to B, or to even work the fields, package food up, and get it loaded onto lorries to go to the markets. 

“Yo, Rogers!” Scott bellowed from where he was standing on top of the Kryptonian ship, “Did ya get the dogs?” 

“Yes, I got your damn hot dogs, chill out.” Steve yelled back, rolling his eyes, “I got Stark burgers too, I can do without the whining.”

Clint winced. The last thing he’d been doing with Laura and the kids was making Hot Dogs. Was it really only a month ago? It felt like a decade since he’d last seen them. 

“How are you doing?” Steve asked gently, his blue eyes soft with compassion. Clint shrugged, 

“Hanging in there.” 

“Aren’t we all?” Natasha drawled, “Have you seen Banner?” She asked Steve, who chuckled and nodded.

“It’s kind of hard to miss him isn’t it?” 

“Just when you think things can’t get any crazier, Banner shows up about eight feet tall and green.” 

Clint grinned at Natasha, “I wonder what else of him is… bigger.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and accepted the punch to his shoulder with a wince and a laugh, “Love you too, Nat.” he called after her, looking to Steve, “So, what can I do?”

*****

While there were many bonuses to being Hulk sized. The increased strength, the good health, and the general amount of endless energy, there were downsides too. One of which being that his fingers were now too large to do the delicate work on computers and machinery. 

Banner simply did not have the dexterity anymore. His fingers were just too larger to hold thin wires, or tiny tools for working on mother boards, no matter how careful he was, they would inevitably crush the delicate objects he was holding, something that was frustrating for him. 

He could however lift the heavy pieces of Tech for Tony so he could do the delicate work without having to use the suit or call in a team to help him move things around. 

“I haven’t had much of a chance to get reacquainted with Earth and what I missed, but I did learn about you and Bruce Wayne.” He offered to Tony’s lower body, the billionaires upper half being buried inside the shell of the ships data core. 

“Uh huh.” Tony replied reaching out, “Hand me the screw driver?” 

Bruce placed it in his hand and crouched lower to try and see what Tony was doing. Inside the hub it looked like maze of wires, crystals, and metallic chips which Tony was piecing back together, replacing fried wires and burned out chips with new ones. 

“You too seemed to be pretty serious.” 

“They were.” 

This came from Damian, who had managed to enter the chamber without either Banner or Tony noticing him, in that creepy silent way of his. Hulk sized he might be, Banner was not ashamed to to admit that Damian Wayne scared the crap out of him. 

“Hey hell spawn, wanna make yourself useful and hand me that flat head screw driver?” Tony called out, waving in its general direction. 

“What did your last slave die of?” Damian snarked back, scowling at Tony’s thighs.

“You’ll find out if you don’t move your ass.” 

“You are not the boss of me Stark.”

“I so am.” 

Sulkily Damian got the screw driver and shoved into Tony’s hand, peering inside the hub, “Rogers is back, he got the supplies. That moron Lang is happy, there are hot dogs, and that alien Viking is entertaining infants with his stupid stories.” That was Damian speak for Thor was helping keep the many orphaned children happy by spending time with them and telling them stories from Asgard. 

“Did your Father ever teach you to respect your elders?” Banner asked, raising a green eyebrow at Damian who glowered back at him.

“No. He and my Mother taught me that respect is earned, not bestowed.” 

“Give it up, big green.” Tony said from inside the hub, “Hell will freeze over before Dami decides anyone is worthy of his respect.”

“That’s because you are all pathetic imbeciles.” Came the immediate response. 

“Bruce and I blamed his Mother for his lack of social graces ooww!” Tony winced as an electric charge hit his fingers and burned them slightly, a low hum started up in the chamber and a few dim lights began to illuminate the cavernous space. 

“Well that did something.” He said, wriggling out of the hub to look around, “The systems must have either been less fried than we first thought, or there was a secondary back up that we’ve managed to trigger.” He lay back down and squirmed back into the hub to keep on working, cursing every time his fingers were burned as he reconnected wires and replaced disks. 

Slowly but surely as they watched, Damian and Banner saw the chamber coming back to life, light filling the amniotic fluid in which squid like AI’s began to swim. 

“…lcome. Ship oper..ng, ten per….nt efficiency.” A female voice said the sound crackling and cutting in and out. “System failure…. Drive…. Main…ame.”

“We’re repairing the drive and the mainframe, just chill out honey.” Tony said still inside the hub, “We’re going as fast as we can.” 

“Analysing…. Foreign components… compatible, systems functioning at twelve percent.” The voice was still crackling but not cutting out anymore. 

“And you are…?” Banner asked, looking around the chamber, seeing tentacles in the ceiling which made him shiver. 

“System AI.” 

“You don’t have a name?” Damian asked, he knew that Tony named all his AI’s.

“A designation is not necessary to my function.” The AI responded.

“Yeah, no, that’s gonna work, we’ve gotta name you.” Tony said, wriggling out of the hub again, “How about…. Akai.”

“Akai?” Banner asked, looking down at Tony with a frown.

“Awesome Kryptonian Artificial Intelligence.” 

“Why do I ask?” Banner sighed.

“Akai is an acceptable designation.” The newly named Akai said. “Systems operating at twelve-point seven perfect efficiency. Registering traces of DNA, Kal-El of Krypton.”

“Yeah, they resurrected him here.” Damian said, “Before the snap.” 

“Request information on “Snap” 

While Tony continued to work, Damian and Banner explained to Akai about Thanos and his use of the infinity stones and how they had decimated half of the universe. They also explained about Steppenwolf and his attack, and how Batman, Dragonfly, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg had resurrected Superman/Kal-El.

“Information on Titan, and the Infinity Stone is stored in the main archive but cannot be accessed at this time.” Akai said, “Acknowledging activity in Engine room.”

“They are repairing the damaged systems Akai, its nothing for you to worry about.” Tony reassured her.

“Affirmative. What are your intentions for the ship once operational?” Akai asked.

“We intend to fly the ship to the planet Thanos was on, retrieve the infinity stone’s atoms from the quantum realm, and rebuild them in the amniotic chamber.” Tony explained, “Then use them to reverse the snap.” 

Akai was silent for several moments before the replied, “Such a thing has never been attempted. Chances of success cannot be predicted.” 

It wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement, but at least it wasn’t a flat out no, which at this point was far better than nothing.


	9. Chapter 9

Nebula and Rocket arrived at the compound and were greeted by Steve who’d gone to pick them up in a car as there was no way they could land the Milano in Metropolis. 

Nebula wasn’t one for small talk, or any talk for that matter and she sat in the back of the car staring at everything with curiosity and scorn which seemed to be her usual expression. 

Rocket however could talk everyone’s ears off and chattered away to Steve quite happily all the way to Metropolis and the Kryptonian ship. 

Rocket let out a low whistle when saw the ship, hopping out of the car and shouldering his beloved gun. “Whoa, I heard of Krytonian tech but I’ve never seen any before, that thing’s a beauty.” He declared, and glanced at Steve, “How much do you want for it, when it’s up and running?” 

“What?” Steve asked too shocked to say anything else.

“How about you have the Milano and I have the Kryptonian ship?” Rocket bartered.

“I doubt that it is for sale.” Nebula said pushing her way past both of them and made her way to the ship. She passed Scott on her way, the Antman suit pilot stopping and staring at her in surprise.

“You’re blue, I mean you’re you, I mean umm welcome to earth!” he stammered staring at her in confoundment. Nebulas huffed and lifted her wrist to speak to Rocket via her communicator. 

“Rocket, when you pass this way take care, there is an idiot wandering around.” 

“Were on earth Nebula, it’s full of idiots.” Rocket snarked back. 

“Nebs!” came Tony’s exuberant cry as Nebula approached the entrance to the ship, “There’s my favourite sadistic smurf, c’mere and gimme a hug you sweet blueberry pie!” 

There was probably no one else in the universe who would describe Nebula as sweet, nor suicidal enough to give her nicknames like Smurf and Blueberry pie, and yet, as confoundingly irritating as Stark was Nebula found him charming in a way should could not explain. Twenty Three days adrift in space together had given them much time to speak, to grow used to one another. They had both shared past hurts, Nebula’s traumatic upbringing by Thanos, a man she still thought of as her Father even though she hated him with all of her being, and Tony had shared his abusive childhood with his own Father Howard. 

Tony’s easy acceptance of Nebula, of his ease about her had warmed her to him in ways that she felt for few in the universe, and so she did not resist Tony’s embrace as they met, but she did not lean into it nor hold him beyond merely putting her arms about him. 

“So, Smurfette, how’s it going?” Tony asked as he pulled back from their hug, “Space just as vast as it was when I was there?” 

“It does not change in mass Stark.” Nebula replied, stiffening as people she had not met before came out of the mouth of the ship, sensing the change Tony turned and beckoned them over, “Nebula, this is Lex Luthor, and Damian Wayne. I mentioned them while we were dying in space, remember?”

“I do.” Nebula said eyeing them both. She stiffened further as Damian approached her. 

“You are the one who helped get Tony back from Titan?” The boy asked her in clipped formal terms.

“I am.” Nebula replied.

“Then I am indebted to you.” Damian said holding out his hand, “It will be my honour to serve when and how you require it.” 

Nebula actually looked taken aback by Damian’s offer, she looked to Tony unsure of what to do as she stammered, “I do not require service, child.”

“Hey, whoa now Nebula, don’t be so hasty.” Rocket said as he and Steve joined them, “We can always use another pair of hands to do some grunt work.” 

“Child labour is illegal on earth, Ratchet.” Tony snarked at him, 

“It’s Rocket and I ain’t from Earth.”

“You’re standing on it now, rodent.” Damian hissed, glowering at Rocket, who immediately snarled back. 

“Rodent, do I look like a rodent to you, Pre-puberty boy?” 

“You look like road kill waiting to happen.” Damian sneered back balling his fists ready for a fight when Lex placed a restraining hand on his shoulder.

“Murder baby, what have we told you about being nice to guests?” 

“I wasn’t listening.” Tony snorted and ruffled Damian’s hair making the boy snarl and look like he was about bite Tony’s arm off.

“Come on guys, I’ll show you around the ship while Lex deals with my feral step-son. 

“Hmm I think it’s past his nap time anyway, it’s why he’s cranky.” Lex teased, accepting the elbow to ribs that Damian gave him with grace.

“And I’ll… go and find something to do.” Steve said lamely, having been left with nothing to do and he didn’t fancy trying to entertain Damian, the boy scared the hell out of him!

*****

Nebula and Rocket joined the engineers in rebuilding the engines in the ship. Both having more experience of space flight capable vessels gave them more idea of what was needed and how to repair the damaged systems or rebuild them from scratch. 

Rocket insisted on taking command of this part of the enterprise, snatching away the schematics that Tony and Lex had drawn up along with the Wakandans and drew up his own complete with instructions of what had to happen and when. 

It was a sight no one was going to forget, dozens of engineers standing around a work table in the middle of Metropolis being ordered around by a racoon who was standing on the table, tapping out points on the schematics with his paws and throwing more sarcasm and snark than Tony and Lex put together!

While they still had yet to hear from Captain Marvel, they were making excellent progress, as Rocket and Nebula had everyone working tirelessly in the engine room, supervised the manufacturing of new parts, at Lexcorp labs which were the closest available, and then the fitting of them. Rocket’s small body and tiny paws were brilliant at wiring and doing the small fittings that human fingers often struggled with. The work with electricals had him working closely with Scott, whom he tormented mercilessly, calling him a Puppy when Scott made the mistake of asking him about Space and Planets. 

Nebula was standoffish with most of the engineers and techs, not even being that approachable to the Avengers beyond Tony, she did however warm to Lex with unexpected speed. The bald billionaire’s equally as shitty childhood with a deranged Father giving them something in common, along with their goal of getting the ship repaired to undo what Thanos had done, and their liking of Tony.

“You have known him long, then?” She asked as she watched Lex smoothing down the metal edges of a new engine part. “Tony Stark.”

“Since I was thirteen.” Lex replied, keeping his goggle covered eyes fixed on what he was doing, the part was small, no bigger than his hand, it was very fine, the metal wafer thin and fragile, easily broken yet still needing to be smoothed out before it could be used. 

“Of course, I’d known of him all of my life, the entire world knew of him and of Bruce.” 

“A different Bruce to the green one here.” 

Lex smiled, “Yeah, very different. The Bruce I’m talking about is Damian’s Father.”

“And he and Stark are in love, yet Stark is not the other parent of the boy.” Now Lex did look up, 

“They had split up.” He explained, “They only got back together a year or so ago, and what happened with Damian’s Mother, happened during their separation.” Nebula nodded jerkily, accepting this. “How could Tony be Damian’s other parent anyway.” Lex said, “It takes male and female to make a baby.”

“On earth yes, on other worlds, no.” As Lex gave her a shocked look Nebula explained, “Some species are not singularly gendered but have aspects of both and so procreation is decided by the mated pair as to whom will carry and whom will impregnate.”

“Huh, I’ll bet that makes for some interesting conversations.” Lex mused, but Nebula wasn’t finished. 

“There are also technologically advanced worlds where biological gestation is not necessary, the genetic material is fertilized and placed into an artificial uterul chamber, where it is grown until ready for birth. 

“An artificial womb?” Lex stared at Nebula. “Holy fuck. We’re just starting to do the first womb transplants from woman to woman on this planet, IVF, umm artificial insemination and invitro fertilization have only been available since 77, and even now it isn’t perfected, there is no guarantee of success.”  
“You humans have a long way to go.” Nebula said, not unkindly more stating a fact. “Yet it seems you learn very fast and develop with efficiency and speed.”

“We do,” Lex agreed, “When properly motivated.” He lifted up the engine part carefully and blew on it, “Maybe one day we’ll catch up with the rest of the galaxy.”

*****

“I am unsure of this sound, TonyStark.” Akai said. The sound of ACDC was playing at deafening volume through the amniotic chamber where Tony was working and dancing along. 

“This Rock ‘n’ Roll, baby. The best music ever invented.” He said to her, “Tell her Friday.”

“Boss insists that is so.” FRIDAY told Akai, “The truth of this statement is uncertain.”

“Bit your metaphoric tongue you traitor!” Tony cried, clutching at his chest as if he had been mortally wounded. “Don’t you pay attention to your big sister, Akai, she’s a lying liar and will be put in time out for this treachery.”

“I am shuddering with fear, Bossman.” Friday said.

“Such sass.” Tony complained.

“I wonder where she gets it.” Rhodey dryly remarked as he came into the room, “How’s it looking?” He asked looking around the chamber which seemed to become more alive every time he saw it. The tentacles in the ceiling were still unnerving, as were the tentacle bots that were swimming in the water, but Tony seemed to like them and had taken to naming them. 

Thing One, Thing Two. Ursula, Face Hugger, and Squidley. 

“We are up to twenty-eight percent efficiency, ColonelRhodes.” Akai reported. “Engine repairs proceed two percent ahead of schedule.”

“If this continues we should up and running within the month.” Tony said, giving Rhodey a shaky smile, “Then we’ve just got to go to Thanos’ retirement planet and pull off something completely insane and we’re all good.” He sounded Blasé but Rhodey could tell he was not, he was acting as if everything was fine, but Rhodey knew that he was terrified that this would all be in vain, for which Tony would blame himself, because he always blamed himself. 

“Tones, no matter what happens, whether or not this plan works, it will not be from lack of effort on your part, or any of our parts.” He said placing a comforting hand on Tony’s shoulder, the Billionaire stiffened and looked at Rhodey uncertainly before relaxing and setting down his tools. “Even if, and I’m not saying it won’t, but even if it doesn’t work, you have given us a fighting chance. That is more than anyone else has come up with.”

“It has to work though.” Tony said, his voice small, “It can’t not work. We have to get everyone back, Lex needs Clark, Damian needs Alfred, his Brother’s and Father, and I need his Father, I need Bruce, and I need Peter.” He drew in a shaky breath and swiped at his face were a few scant tears had begun to fall, determinedly picking his tools up to get back to work. “So we’re gonna make it happen, right ladies?” he said to the AI’s 

“We will give it our best effort TonyStark.” 

“You got it Bossman.” 

“That’s my girls.” Tony said a wobbly smile on his face and tears shining in his eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

Insomnia was a life long problem for Tony. Even as a child he’d not been able to sleep well. His mind was too active, his thoughts racing, keeping him from settling into sleep. 

When he was a kid and before he’d been shipped off to boarding school he’d sneak down to his Dad’s lab at night to get his hands on the tools without Howard breathing down his neck, telling him he was doing everything wrong, or screaming at him to get out. 

He’d taught himself so much, learned so much during those sleepless nights, far more than he’d ever learned in school. 

When insomnia had hit during his school years he’d sneak off to the science lab to experiment, doing what he wanted without his classmates heckling him, or his teachers telling him he was moving trying to run before he could walk. 

In college he’d done as he pleased, the freedom being as exhilarating as drugs, and he’d certainly done plenty of them as he’d gotten into the party scene, which was how he’d met Bruce. Between them, Bruce and Rhodey had made it their mission to ensure that he got a minimum of four hours sleep a night, that he consumed something more than coffee or alcohol, and didn’t spend all of his time working, or partying until he passed out. 

Once he was an adult and living on his own, Tony had been left pretty much to his own devices. With Rhodey being shipped off here, there, and everywhere by the Air Force, and Bruce disappearing for years, Tony hadn’t had anyone to keep him in check, to stop him from exhausting work binges and drug and alcohol fuelled benders, no one until Pepper and Happy had come into his life and started to keep an eye on him. 

They had really helped when it came to the parties, keeping him from overdosing or drinking himself to death, but not from his work binges. That had been Jarvis. 

Creating Jarvis had given Tony much more than just someone to handle mundane electronic tasks, it had given him a friend, family, someone to watch over him and care for him, to try and make sure he was reasonably healthy and not liable to work himself into a coma. 

But Jarvis was gone now, and while he had Friday he had far more things keeping him awake than just his racing mind. Nightmares were a plague that disrupted the few times he had been able to sleep. 

Time and again he would see Peter dissolving into ash before his eyes, the poor boy saying he didn’t want to go, apologising to him as if it was his fault that everything had to shit. Then, if that wasn’t bad enough Tony would end up seeing Bruce, Jason, Dick, Tim, and Alfred falling to ash in front of him. 

Always in different situations, different settings, sometimes they’d be eating dinner, Alfred scolding Jason every time he swore, Bruce trying to get Damian to eat his vegetables and not call everyone pathetic or idiotic, Dick shamelessly goading them on while Tim tried to sneak more caffeine into his diet without anyone noticing and sharing shy glances with Peter, who’d keep grinning them looking nervously away. 

It would all be perfect, until one of them beg to break down into ash, then one by one the rest of them would follow and Tony would be left at the table alone surrounded by piles of ash. 

In another scenario he and Bruce had been getting married, Bruce had just slipped the ring onto his finger when his hands began to turn to ash, Tony would look up, try to cry out but his mouth would be filled with ash as Bruce fell apart before him, the rest of the family too, leaving Tony standing alone before the alter choking on his families remains. 

Understandably with these nightmares disturbing when he did sleep, Tony was avoiding doing so for as long as he could, choosing to work instead, sometimes on his tablet in the apartment while Damian and Lex slept, unless Lex too couldn’t sleep and would then join him. Or at other times he’d go down to the ship and do some physical work. 

That was his choice for this particular night, heading down to the ship after tossing and turning for two hours. The camp about the ship was pretty quiet as he made his way through the people camped out there, saying hello to the few who were still awake, and snickered at the couple of teens who were sneaking away to make out.

He made his way inside the ship, going straight to the amniotic chamber which hummed into life, Akai welcoming him as he set down to work. 

“What area would you like to work on TonyStark?” Akai asked.

“I’m not sure.” Tony said, “There is so much shit to deal with still why don’t you show me all the shit and then I’ll decide.”

“Shit.” Said a voice from behind him that was not Akai. 

Tony spun around and saw one of the refugees, a little girl of four years old by the name of Morgan. Her Father was unknown but her Mother had been killed during the snap, she’d been a passenger on a bus and the driver had turned to dust along with a lot of the other passengers, the bus had crashed and Morgan’s Mother had suffered a broken neck leaving the little girl orphaned and wandering the streets until she’d stumbled into the refugee camp, where she was now being cared for a long with the other parentless children. 

“And what are you doing up and about, little Miss?” Tony asked her, turning around from the interface to look at Morgan.

“Shit!” She impishly replied, her chocolate brown eyes dancing with amusement and curiosity. She was as bright as a button and very intelligent for her age, she’d taken an interest in everything that was going on about the camp and the ship, frequently coming over to ask the engineers what they were doing and watching them work. 

“Nope, we don’t use that word.” Tony said to her, “Only Lex uses that word. He coined that, it belongs to him.”

“What are you doing?” Morgan asked coming closer to Tony.

“I’ve got important shit!” Tony said gesturing behind him and Morgan shot him an amused glance as he backtracked, “No, I’ve just got a lot of shi… stuff on my mind,” He smiled at her, beckoning her closer, “What do you think, hm? Want me to give you the grand tour and introduce you to the AI’s?” 

“Uh-huh.” Morgan scurried over to Tony who lifted her easily as she wrapped her arms about his neck and her legs about his waist. 

“Okay then. Firstly Akai, this is Morgan, Morgan, say hello to Akai, she runs this ship.”

“Greetings Morgan.” Akai said making Morgan gaze around and answer back a soft hello.

“And now, if we step down into the water, you can meet the worker drones,” Tony pointed down into the water where the tentacled drones swam, “Now those two who look alike, they are Thing One, and Thing Two, they always work in a pair, are never apart so I think they are twins.” 

Morgan giggled watching as the two drones swam lazily through the water, “This one, just circling us now is Facehugger, now you have to watch yourself because he is overly affectionate and will hug your face if he gets the chance!”

“He’s cute!” Morgan declared as the drone swam between Tony’s legs. 

“Uh-huh, and the one in the left corner there, that Ursula. If you’ve ever seen the Little Mermaid, you’ll know not to give your voice to her, it’s a very bad idea and a giant octopus is not what I need.” Again Morgan giggled and waved at Ursula. 

“And last but not least is Squidly, the youngest of the group and the most playful.” Tony said introducing the drone who swiped at his knees and splashed water up and him and Morgan. 

“He’s funny,” Morgan said, “Can I play with him?” 

The question took Tony by surprise. Had she been asking about one of his bots then he’d have said yes without question, there was nothing those three misfits loved more than making toxic smoothies and the fire extinguisher, than to play with someone. But these weren’t his bots, he didn’t know that much about them or how safe they were around a little girl. 

“They do not engage in play as you my understand it, but you can touch them without doing harm or being harmed, Morgan.” Akai said,

“Great.” Morgan declared, squirming down from Tony’s arms and splashing in the water that came up to her waist. At once the drones swam over to her, circling her. Giggling Morgan dipped her hands into the water, jumping in delight when the drones swam up to touch her hands like curious seals and dolphins. 

Tony released a breath he hadn’t known he was holding at how well the interactions were going. 

“They’re funny.” Morgan said splashing the water at the drones who responded by flicking their tentacles at her and splashing her back. 

“Playing splash with the drones.” Tony said, “Okay, I am good with this.” 

*****

Morgan played with the drones until she finally started to feel tired, at which point she got out of the water and sat up on the deck watching Tony work with Akai and Friday, giggling every time Tony said a bad word, and immediately corrected himself, telling Morgan she couldn’t use the word because it belonged to someone else. 

It was fun watching Tony work, he chattered a lot, to himself, to the AI’s, to Morgan, she didn’t understand a lot of what he was talking about, things involving circuits and memory boards, and technical things involving the pretty crystals that seemed to give Akai power, but his voice was nice to listen to, and every so often he would look up and smile at her, letting her know that he hadn’t forgotten that she was there. 

When morning finally came, Tony shut down his work and scooped Morgan up into his arms, balancing her on his hip and decided to take her back to the penthouse for breakfast instead of going to the camp and dropping her off with the parents there. 

“Are you gonna make the ship fly again?” Morgan asked, wrapping her arms about Tony’s neck, his beard was prickly on her skin and she giggled as she touched it, rubbing her fingers over the goatee, “You’re like hedgehog!” She declared grinning at Tony who gave a gasp of mock horror at this, 

“A hedgehog! I am no Hedgehog little Miss, what you are is a cheeky imp and do you know what happens to cheeky imps?” Morgan shook her head, “They get carried upside down!” Tony proceed to turn Morgan over so she was hanging over his shoulder her hands outstretched to the ground. 

Morgan shrieked and squirmed until Tony brought her back upright, and smiled at her beaming flushed face, “In answer to your question, little miss, I am going to make the ship fly again. Now let me pose another question to you, and important one, what do you want for breakfast hm? A handful of crickets on a bed of lettuce? Maybe some spiders and dried leaves? How about some bat wings and pig snouts?” 

“Eeeewww no!” Morgan yelled screwing her face up in disgust, “Don’ wan’ no yucky stuff, wan boobewy pancakes.”

“Blueberry pancakes huh?” Tony mused translating the garbled word, “I think we can manage that.”

Lex was in his usual zombified state as he waited for the coffee machine to brew the first pot and Damian was sharpening his katanas before the TV pretending he wasn’t interested in the cartoons that were playing even though his eyes were fixed on the screen. 

“Head up people, we have company.” Tony called as he came in, Morgan still on his hip. The little shied away as Lex and Damian looked up, clinging to Tony a little tighter.

“Morgan, this is Lex and Damian.” Tony said introducing the pair, “Now don’t worry they won’t bite you, they’re not completely rabid despite what their appearances might suggest.”

“Screw you, Stark.” Lex shot back and Damian muttered something foul in Arabic. 

“Screw you.” Morgan parroted.

“Nuh uh, that’s another no word,” Tony said, “Only big people can say those words, and you’re a midget so you can’t say them.”

“Not a midget.” Morgan protested pouting at him.

“A munchkin then, or maybe a hobbit… no, you’re not hairy enough to be a hobbit.”

“You are, and you’re short!” Damian drawled with a smirk making Morgan giggle, 

“You, young man, are out of the will!” Tony declared pointing at him, “That’s it, you are cut off, utterly and completely disowned.”

Damian rolled his eyes, “Like I care? I have Dad’s money, remember?” 

“Kids.” Tony sighed looking to Lex who was up to his shoulders in his coffee cup, blind and deaf to everything but the caffeine.

“You have swords?” Morgan said, squirming down from Tony’s hip to hurry over to Damian, she reached out to touch the blade but thankfully Damian caught her hand before she could.

“It’s very sharp, you could hurt yourself.” He said seriously, “These are dangerous, they can slice a man’s head off in one stroke.”

“Really? Cool!” 

“She thinks decapitation is cool.” Tony said to him, turning and heading to the fridge to get the eggs, milk, and blueberries for the pancakes, “Fine.”

He had just finished making the batter and was adding the blueberries when Lex resurfaced from his coffee mug. The younger Billionaire paused, frowning at the sight of Damian with Morgan, “Why is Damian teaching a toddler how to use a katana?” He asked. 

“Because she made her way inside the ship last night and spent the whole night there with me, plaything with the drones and watching me work.” Tony replied pouring batter into the frying pan, “And she’s now here to have breakfast with us.”

“Uh huh.” Lex said watching Damian take Morgan through several sword moves, holding her wrists to guide her as she held one of his swords, “And you’ve what? Adopted her?” he turned to look at Tony who shook his head his face screwing up, 

“No, I don’t know, fuck, maybe,” He looked past Lex to Morgan and Damian, the two seemed to be having a good time, Damian actually had a smile on his face for once and was taking great care not to hurt Morgan as he showed her how to use the Katana, “What the fuck would I do with a kid?” He asked Lex. 

The younger Billionaire shrugged poured another cup of coffee, “What all parents do, I guess.”

“And what’s that?”

“Figure it out as they go along.”


	11. Chapter 11

After that first morning, Morgan became a permanent fixture in Tony’s life and the penthouse. Practically everywhere he went, she was right there with him, watching him work, playing with the AIs, handing him tools when he asked for them, and giggling every time he said a bad word. 

There might not have been a formal adoption, with legal papers being signed and meetings with social services, but everyone knew that Tony had adopted her in all but name. 

He and Lex dismantled the double bed in the room he was using at the penthouse and replaced it with two single beds, one of which was covered in childrens bed linen and an array of cuddly toys for Morgan. They also took a few hours off working on the ship to the go get her new clothes to wear, which naturally led to them buying new clothes for all the refugee’s. 

For the refugee’s they kept it simple, t-shirts, jeans, underwear, and hoodies. For Morgan they might have gone a little overboard, but neither of them could resist the cute little girl dresses with sparkly fabrics and flared skirts. Neither could they resist buying her several dress up Disney Princess outfits either, which led to Morgan having a Frozen dress, a Beauty and the Beast dress, a Snow White Dress, and a Cinderella dress. 

“You’re gonna spoil her rotten if you’re not careful.” Clint warned Tony, not that he had much room to talk, he’d always been a sucker for his kids’ puppy eyed looks and pouty bottom lips when they’d wanted something, and Morgan seemed to have both down to a fine art. Even Rocket, the most foul tempered, grouchy creature in the universe couldn’t resist those cherubic dimples and sparkling brown eyes. 

Even Damian, the world’s most snotty and blood thirsty child ever born, had a soft spot for Morgan, taking extra care not to let her get hurt with his or anyone’s weapons, (He’d actually given Thor a dressing down for leaving Storm Breaker unattended, risking Morgan cutting herself on the blade)

The ire that Damian had shown the Thunder God actually had Thor paling and nodding meekly and apologizing with an ashamed expression!

“Are we certain that Bruce Wayne actually Fathered that boy and he isn’t actually the spawn of Satan?” Scott asked after watching the spectacle, both astonished and afraid of Damian. 

“I’m not.” Steve said, “The brat stabbed me in the hand with a fork the other day, and I mean really stabbed me, the tines went right the way in, not just scratched the surface.”

“You were reaching for the S’mores that he was saving for Morgan.” Natasha pointed out, “He was just defending her food.”

“She didn’t need that much sugar before bedtime.” Steve protested, “And is anyone else concerned that she’s treating those creepy tentacle things like pets?” 

“Not really.” Banner replied, “They’re giving her rides now, and Tony and Lex bought her about a dozen swimming costumes so her clothes aren’t getting drenched every time she goes into the pool.” He patted Steve’s shoulder with his massive hand, “If they were going to hurt her, they’d have done it by now.”

Steve considered that and supposed Banner was right, it was just hard to judge the safety of those things when they were so alien. 

Morgan was not only a delightful child, she was also very mischievous, something Lex found out after he’d fallen asleep on the sofa and Morgan had been looking for something to do. 

Steve had bought her a selection of felt tip pens and colouring books for when she was in the Penthouse or not allowed into the ship because Tony was working on something he felt was too dangerous for her to be present for in case of an energy surge. 

Morgan had taken said felt tips and drawn a moustache and beard on Lex’s face in purple, eyebrows arching up his forehead in blue, and swirls on his scalp in red and green. 

The young Billionaire hadn’t known there was anything wrong until Damian and Tony had taken one look at him and just about wet themselves laughing, which had only increased when Lex had looked in the mirror and started shouting in outrage. He’d then locked himself in the bathroom and spent three hours scrubbing his skin until it had faded enough that he wouldn’t look completely ridiculous. 

He had gotten his revenge though, going out and buying Morgan an array of make-up and nail polish and getting her to demand to play “Make over, and dress ups” with Tony. 

An hour later Tony had bright blue eyeshadow covering his eyes, glitter in his hair, bright pink blusher on his cheeks, and bright red lipstick smeared over his mouth. With a feather scarf tied about his neck, a bed sheet tied and pinned up about his waist like a tutu, and a sparkly cap about his shoulders, he sat resigned, as Morgan painted his nails sparkly pink. 

After that, playing dress ups spilled out and was taken up by all the younger children in the camp, costumes being purchased or made from discarded fabrics and accessories, and any adult who wasn’t working on the ship, or had an actual task to do, found themselves roped in to the games. 

Which was how Steve and Clint found themselves being dressed up like pirates, with scars and eye patches and scars painted over their faces and had to battle against each other as they were assigned to different ships! 

With Thor and Diana regaling the children with stories from their youths, the battles they’d fought or heard tell of, the most common form of dress up, was as Amazonian and Ancient Greek Warriors, or as Asgaurdian Warriors. 

One evening when all the work was done for the day, Diana and Thor engaged in a battle for the entertainment of everyone including the children. Both took care to not actually injure one another, but still put on one hell of a show with Thor calling down lightning and Diana’s wrist guards deflecting it, her sword smashing against Storm Breaking in a shower of sparks. 

Diana won the day when she used the lasso of Hastia to bring Thor to his knees, at which point he conceded defeat to “The Noble Princess of the Amazons.” 

“I wanna be an Amazon when I grow up.” Morgan declared as Tony tucked her into bed, “I’m gonna have a sword like Diana, and I’m gonna have bows and arrows too, cuz she said that her Sister’s use them.”

“Do they?” Tony asked smoothing down the bed sheets, “So does Hawkeye.” 

“Yeah, but he’s real old.” Morgan said screwing her nose up, “Diana’s prettier than he is and I’ll bet she’s better artray too.” 

“Archery.” Tony corrected, pressing a kiss to her forehead. 

“I’m gonna have Iron Man repulsors too, so I can disintegrate people!” Morgan added, “And so I can fly, and I’ll have a cape like Uncle Lex, or Thor.” 

“Will you now?” Tony said, smoothing back her hair, “And do you have a name for yourself?” 

“Dragon Girl!” Morgan enthused and then yawned loudly. 

“Sleep time, Dragon girl, you can fight monsters tomorrow.” Tony said. 

“Wanna story.” Morgan mumbled her eyelids growing heavy.

“Once upon a time, there was a little girl who was very tired and she went to sleep, the end!” Tony teased. Morgan protested giggling, but she was too sleepy to do much. 

“Love you, little miss.” Tony said, making sure that her favourite cuddly toys were in bed besides her. 

“Love you too.” Morgan replied, 

“Then I love you three!” Tony teased, getting up to shut off the main light, leaving the nightlight on which cast a dim violet glow over the room. 

“Love you three thousand.” Morgan declared.

“Wow, three thousand?” Tony asked, “That’s a lot of love, especially for a little munchkin like you.”

“Not a munchkin.” 

“Go to sleep.” Tony said, “Or the bed bugs will bite!” Giggling Morgan snuggled down into the bed covers, hugging a stuffed rabbit to her chest and settled into sleep. 

“She loves me 3000.” 

“What?” Lex asked looking up from his schematics as Tony stumbled into the sitting up and threw himself down onto the sofa without any grace at all. Damian, who had noise cancelling earphones on just scowled at him and returned to his video game, taking gleeful pleasure in slaughtering his opponents. 

“Morgan.” Tony said, “She said she loves me 3000.”

“Ah.” Lex set the schematics down and gave Tony his full attention, “And this is bad because?” 

“It’s not bad, it’s terrifying.” Tony replied, “I’m bad at this stuff Lex, I’m not parent material, I completely suck at being a Dad.” 

“The past few weeks with Morgan would seem to suggest otherwise, and you’ve been good with the Murder Brat too. You may not think it, but you have a way with Kids, you’re a natural with them and they adore you.”

Tony scowled down at his jeans, “More fool them, look what happened to the last Kid I was supposed to take care of.” 

“Tony, Peter was not your fault.” Lex gently said to him, “It was Thanos, not you.” Tony looked up with a scowl on his face. 

“He shouldn’t have even been there, Lex. He wasn’t meant to be there, I should have sent him home, made Strange put him in a portal back to earth, he shouldn’t…” Tony’s breath caught in his throat, “He was begging me Lex, begging me not to let him go and apologizing to me as if it were his fault and then…” He broke off with a loud groan and rose from the sofa, going to the wet board and poured a whiskey, “We nearly had the bastard glove off when Quill lost it. He found out that Thanos had murdered his girlfriend and he just lost it, started beating on the fucker and broke Mantis’s hold.”

Lex sat forward resting his arms on his legs, Damian slipped off his headphones frowning at the adults. 

“I should have done something, cut the fuckers arm off.” Tony said throwing back the whiskey in a single gulp and hissing as it caught the back of his throat, “If his arm wasn’t attached to his body then he couldn’t have used the damn glove. Or Strange, that smug bastard, he should have just let Thanos gut me, what the fuck was my life compared to the whole universe?” He looked back at Lex, “Why would he do that? Spare me of all people and give up the one thing that had to be kept from Thanos at all costs?”

“Because he was a dick?” Damian suggested. 

“Or because he knew that you’re life was pivotal in defeating Thanos.” Lex said and Tony scoffed.

“Yeah, like I helped with that.”

“I’m serious Tony.” Lex said, “You said Strange saw over fourteen Million futures with only one outcome where we prevail. Now he must have known what needed to be done to set that future in motion, and since he chose to give up the stone to save your life, it stands to reason that it is you who is integral in undoing what Thanos has done.” Tony looked sceptical but Lex went on, “Look what what you’ve done. You came up with the idea of using the ship to bring back the stones, you’ve come up with the idea on how to fix the ship, you’ve brought us all together to do this, no one else has, and no one else would have thought to do this. So as far as I am concerned Strange was right to spare your life, because if he hadn’t, then we wouldn’t have any hope right now.” 

Tony leaned back against the wet board, folding his arms over his chest, “What about the ones we can’t bring back, the lives that can’t be restored, people like Morgan’s Mother? Was my life really worth theirs?”

“Yes.” Damian said with utter conviction, “If their sacrifice saved you and it leads to you bringing back all those that were dusted, then yes, the cost was worth it.”

“We’re talking millions of lives, Dami, Millions all over the Universe.”

“Which is better than Trillions.” Lex said, he shrugged, “This is war, Tony, and no war is bloodless, you know that better than anyone. Innocents are always lost in war, lives lost, but to quote Spock, “The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few.” 

“If it takes a million to save a trillion then anyone will do it.” Damian said, “It’s not even really a choice, it’s just maths.”

“Which is a very sterile and bloodless way of looking at it, Dami.” Tony said, “And speaking hypothetically you can say it just comes down to the maths, but once you are talking flesh and blood, I doubt you would find it so easy a decision to make or to live with.” 

Damian snorted not looking convinced of this, but didn’t argue either. 

“Well,” Lex said, getting to his feet, “This has gotten very philosophical, and it’s way too late at night for that crap, especially when we’re close to the finish line on the ship.” He joined Tony at the wet bar and poured himself a scotch, “Are you ready to fit the arc reactors?” 

“As I’ll ever be.” Tony replied happy for the change of subject, “Akai thinks that they will be compatible with her systems and the ships power cores, but we won’t know for certain until they’re in place, and since we have no idea what may happen, everyone in a two mile radius is being moved out just in case something goes wrong.”

“Like what, the ship blows up?” Damian asked,

“Yes.” Tony replied, “And since you are helping to move everyone into the safe zones tomorrow, why don’t you get to bed and get some rest.”

“Because I’m not a fucking kid!”

“No, you’re a brat.” Lex said grinning at Damian shot him a murderous look, “Do you want us to tuck you in and sing you a lullaby?”

“Do you want your vocal chords severing?” Damian sneered back, getting to his feet and heading to his room, but not without looking in on Morgan first, his face softening at the sight of the little girl, when he noticed the adults watching him he scowled again and headed for his own room. 

“He is adorable in a terrifying way.” Lex said, refilling Tony’s glass and held it too him, “Drink to success?” 

“Heres to the ship not blowing a huge crater in Metropolis, and managing to get us across the Galaxy to do the impossible.” Tony said clicking his glass against Lex’s, “Here’s to miracles.”


	12. Chapter 12

Morgan was not happy about being separated from Tony and Lex, neither was Damian, but both were made to leave the Kryptonian ship site along with all the refugees and anyone in a two mile radius of the site until they knew it was safe for them to return.

Lex, Tony, Rocket, Nebula, Banner, and a handful of Wakandan engineers were the only ones left at the site with absolutely everyone else cleared out as they fitted the arc reactors into place and powered the ship up for the first time. 

“Maybe we should have made it a five mile radius.” Tony said, nervously bouncing his legs and shifting about, unable to stay still as they waited to get the call from Steve to let them know that they were clear.

“Or cleared out the entire City.” Lex murmured.  
“You should think positive.” Rocket said, “I think this is going to work.” He looked at the arc reactor, admiring the blue glow, “I like these, I like that suit of yours too. How much for one?” 

“They’re not for sale.” Tony said, starting to pace back and forth, “But you can have a reactor for nothing.”

“Sweet.” Rocket purred, “I’ll bet I hook it up some nice guns, be a hell of a weapon.”

“Yeah it… wait, what?” Tony asked, stopping pacing and frowning at Rocket but at that moment the coms crackled as Steve let them know they were clear. 

“We’ll talk about this later.” He said to Rocket, as Nebula and Banner got to their feet, “Okay then, this is it, if anyone has a prayer now is the time.”

“Are we praying for it to work or for us to survive if it blows up?” Banner asked.

“Both.” Tony replied.

“I do not believe that words will protect us from anything.” Nebula stated.

“Nope and standing around here isn’t going to get this done.” Lex said, “So lets get to it people, its show time.”

Once the reactors were in place Tony instructed Akai to start routing the power to the engines and the mainframe, “Let’s just start with five percent, let the systems warm up before we start cranking the juice.”

“Affirmative TonyStark.” Akai replied, “Five percent power initiated, stabilizing, power levels holding steady no signs of stress or incompatibility.”

“Come on, come on, come on.” Lex chanted biting his nails and shifting on the balls of his feet as they waited for the results of this.

“Alright let’s give it another ten percent power and be ready to shut down at the first sign of trouble.” Tony said to Akai.

“Increasing to fifteen percent….power levels stable.”

“It’s working, it’s gonna work!” Banner gasped with a deep rolling laugh.

“Let’s take it to twenty… no twenty five percent.” Tony said linking his fingers together and folding his hands into a prayer pose.

“Twenty-five percent power, holding steady, Mainframe coming online, access to the Kryptonian database now fully available.”

“Fucking awesome!” Lex cried grabbing Tony’s arm, “Take it to fifty percent?”

“Thirty-five.” Tony said, “If that holds, then we’ll go to fifty.”

“Affirmative.” Akai replied. 

They hit fifty percent with no problems and Tony decided to hold it there for an hour and let the engineers run checks, and let all the systems get accustomed to being powered up again after so long without. 

Once everything checked out he had Akai increase the power again by ten percent, and kept on going until they reached one hundred percent.

“Full power initiated, systems on line, engines ready to engage.” Akai reported, “Shall I initiate engine start up sequence?”

“Uh.. yeah, why not?” Tony said glancing to Nebula and Rocket, “Can you two take the helm and pilot this thing?” 

“That’ll be a dream.” Rocket declared grinning widely while Nebula merely inclined her head in agreement. 

Banner frowned and made his way over to Tony in two huge strides, “You want to fly today?” He asked.

“Just a quick trip.” Tony replied, “I figure it’ll be good to see how well the structure holds in the air and maybe, if everything looks good, we can go into orbit, make a single orbit about the earth and set her back down.”

“Sounds good to me.” Lex agreed. Banner shrugged, 

“In for a penny I guess.”

“That’s the spirit.” Tony cheered, “And Akai, why don’t we add some music to this, The Launch by DJ Jean.”

“Really Tony?” Lex groaned as the track began to play.

“Then lets follow that up with the Lost in Space theme song!” Tony said grinning wildly and ignoring Lex’s groan. 

The ship lifted up into the air with the grace of an eagle, rising up like a chopper at first until they had cleared the buildings, then Nebula and Rocket put her on an ascent, lifting the nose and taking her high up into the sky, above the clouds until finally they were going outside of the atmosphere and into space. 

While they should have been paying attention to the readings, have stayed in the engine room and the amniotic chamber, no one on board could resist going up to the bridge to watch from the view screen as they entered space and then to look down at Earth as Rocket and Nebula put them into orbit.

“My God, pictures really don’t do it justice.” Lex murmured as he looked down at the earth beneath them, the beautiful sight of their planet below, just land masses and ocean from this distance, no buildings visible, or people, just the planet as a whole.

“It’s a good reminder of what we’re fighting for, isn’t it?” Tony whispered, standing besides him at the screen. He had gone into space, gone through the wormhole back in 2012, and had gone to Titan in the Donut ship, but this was different, this was simply beautiful. 

“Dr Stark?” one of the Wakanda engineers said, “We’re getting a lot of calls from various Space centres around the globe, what should our response be?”

“Tell ‘em to suck it!” Rocket declared.

“Just let them know it’s us and we’re doing a single orbit of the earth and then going back down.” Tony replied, “And someone let Cap know too, or he’ll get his frilly panties in a bunch.”

“frilly panties?” Nebula asked of no one particular.

*****

The success of the test flight was cause for celebration, and Pepper came through, having several crates of champagne delivered to the ship site that evenings as everyone returned in high spirits. 

“So that’s it, we’re ready to go then.” Scott said, a disposable cup of champagne in one hand and a BBQ hot dog in the other. 

“Just as soon as we’ve got the receptacles for the Infinity stones from Wong, we are.” Tony said, he had Morgan on his hip and was sharing a cheese burger with her, daring her to see which one of them could take the biggest bite. He was letting her win, only take small bites himself so she didn’t miss out. 

He, Lex, and Scott had looked into making receptacles of their own for the atoms they would be collecting, but with rebuilding the ship they hadn’t had the time to devote to this and with the stones being partly mystical it seemed the sorcerers from Kammar Taj would be the best to make the suitable receptacles for them. 

“Yeah, tell me again, how are they doing this?” Clint asked around a mouthful of burger loaded with bacon.

“Something about manipulating the elements and bringing together particles using dimensional energy to form six receptacles.” Tony said his face scrunching up, “I don’t fucking know, it’s all fucking magic bullshit and I get a migraine if I have to listen to it.”

“Magic bullshit.” Morgan giggled, her mouth smeared in ketchup.

“Nuh-uh that’s a no no word, you remember what we’ve said about the no-no words, don’t you, little Miss?” Tony said to her.

“That I’m not to say them until I’m taller than you without wearing high-heels.” Morgan replied rolling her eyes and giving him an unimpressed pout, “But you and Lex say them, and so does Dami.”

“Hey!” Damian protested with a scowl, “Tattle tale.”

Morgan stuck her tongue out at him giggling. 

“No now, be nice Princess, or you won’t get any s’mores.” Lex cautioned her knowing that Morgan loved S’mores.

“Sorry Dami, I love you.” Morgan said, squirming down from Tony’s hip to go and throw her arms about Damian’s neck and hug him close. Damian froze for a moment and then embraced her too whispering that he loved her too.

“We’re going to have start thinking of an actual plan for when we get to this planet.” Steve said, looking over to where Thor was loudly regaling some of the refugees with another story from Asgard while eating what appeared to be an entire pigs worth of BBQ ribs smothered in sticky sauce.

“How are we actually going to go about this?” he asked.

“Well we only have a very limited amount of Pyms particles, enough for ten of us to go to the quantum realm and to get back.” Scott said, “I do have a couple more but I’d like to keep them for the suit, if no one minds?” he looked around but no one seemed to troubled by this.

“Not everyone is going to the planet.” Tony said, glancing at Damian, who was deep in discussion with Morgan so he wasn’t paying attention. “And those that do, will be going into the quantum realm. There are six stones, so lets divide an conquer, one team to one stone.”

“Sounds good.” Natasha said sitting down besides Steve, “Clint and I can handle ourselves together, we’ve done missions with just the two of us before.”

“Alright, you two get one of the stones, take your pick, Mind, Soul, Space, Time, Reality, or Power?” Tony asked.

“Why not soul.” Natasha said with a grim smile, “It’ll be nice and ironic.”

“I think Thor should handle Reality.” Steve said looking over to the Asgardian, “He and Rocket should make a pretty good team, they’ve worked together before.”

“If they agree then that’s fine with me.” Tony said.

“I will get the power stone.” Nebula said her tone brooking no argument with this decision, “I will require one person to assist me.” 

“I’ll be good for that.” Rhodey offered, finishing off his hot dog. 

“Banner, how do you feel about getting the Time stone?” Tony asked him. 

Banner shrugged, “I can handle that.” He said agreeably.

“I’ll assist you, Doctor Banner.” Diana said startling everyone as she joined them silently. 

“That leaves Mind and Space.” Lex said, “Tony, you and me go for the Space stone particles?” 

The older man nodded, “Fine with me, Cap, you and Scott alright to get the Mind stone?” 

“Perfectly.” Steve agreed and Scott nodded. 

“Alright then.” Tony said, “Now all we have to do is get the receptacles from Wong, and break it to Damian that he is staying with Morgan and Pepper on earth.” 

****

Damian was predictably unhappy when Lex and Tony broke the news to him the following morning, glaring at him murderously and looking like he was a second away from doing them actual bodily harm. 

“Sweetheart it’s not a punishment, and it’s not entirely to protect you either.” Tony explained, “I mean, well it is, but it is also to protect the future.”

“He’s telling the truth, Dami.” Lex said, reaching across the table they were sitting at only to have Damian snatch his own hands away and snarl at him like an irate cat. “This world still needs heroes, Gotham still needs protecting. If this doesn’t work out then someone is going to have to take over from all of us, from your Dad, and I’m sorry honey but that person has to be you.”

Tony gave Damian a sympathetic look, “This isn’t us excluding you, this is us asking you to take on one hell of a responsibility.”

“To become Bat Man.” Damian murmured a little less venomously but still sounding sulky. 

“Not just that.” Lex said, “But to also inherit Stark Industries and Lexcorp in the event that we don’t return.”

“What?” Damian stared at the two men in complete shock, he knew he would inherit his Father’s fortune and shares of WE, but Lexcorp and SI too? 

“We have no one else left, Dami, it has to be you.” Lex explained, “Provisions have been made for Morgan, but it’ll be you that will get the majority, and have to shoulder the burden, and with our fortunes combined, not including the turn over from our companies, you’ll have a fortune of about forty billion US dollars.”

It was an unfathomable sum of money, and even more unimaginable with the net worth from the companies too.

“You’ll be responsible for seeing that the companies continue to flourish.” Tony said, “Pepper will help, and she’ll be your guardian and trustee of your fortune until you turn twenty-one. Then it’ll be up to you to see that companies continue to run, that the employees livelihoods are safe.”

Damian frowned, it was a hell of a responsibility they were giving him, were entrusting him with and while his pride chaffed at not getting to go to the planet with them, he was mature enough to see the reason why they were doing this, wanting to safeguard the future as well as protect him. 

“There is another reason too.” Tony said smiling faintly, “Morgan.”

“Morgan?” Damian repeated, “What does she have to do with this?” 

Tony tipped his head to the side and gave him a look, “What do you think? You’re her big brother now, Dami. She’s already lost so much, so many people, she can’t afford to lose all of us too. If we don’t make it back then she’ll need you to be there for her, to care for her as her big brother. You can do that, can’t you?”

“Of course!” Damian sounded offended that they even considered for a moment that he couldn’t.

“Then you agree to go to New York and stay with Pepper until we get back, if we get back.” Lex said.

Sighing heavily Damian nodded and pinched his lips tight as his scowl deepened, “Just promise me you’ll try to come back?” he whispered, looking up at them his dark eyes shining with unshed tears, “I don’t want to lose you guys either.”

Tony nodded feeling a lump form in his throat preventing him from speaking, “We’ll do our best Dami.” Lex promised sounding hoarse himself, “We’ll try and bring everyone back, ourselves included.” 

Damian nodded again, he held very still for a moment then rose, running around to Lex and Tony’s side of the table and flinging himself into their arms in a tight hug, his dark head buried between their chests, clinging to them as if he was afraid they would get ripped away from him right there and then. 

Tony looked at Lex over the top of his head a single tear running down his cheek, Lex offered a weak smile, his own eyes glimmering with tears. Neither of them needed to speak, this wasn’t a moment for words, just for making the most of each other while they had the chance.


	13. Chapter 13

Pepper came to Metropolis to pick up Damian and Morgan.

Damian was quiet, sullen, but not arguing having accepted the situation, Morgan however was not old enough to understand reasoning and only saw that she was being sent away from Tony and threw a tantrum about it, shouting that it was unfair, that she hated everyone and then stormed off into her room slamming her door behind her.

“Welcome to the joys of parenthood.” Pepper sighed, sitting down on the sofa, figuring this would take a little longer than she had first anticipated.

“Why can’t it all be cuteness and saying naughty words?” Tony complained as he made his way to Morgan’s bedroom. Drawing in a deep breath he knocked on the door.

“Go away, I hate you!” Morgan shouted.

“Knife in the heart baby, knife in the heart.” Tony whispered opened the bedroom door and going into the room. 

Morgan was curled up on the floor huddled into her mass of cuddly toys, her favourite of which was clutched tightly to her chest as she sniffled and scowled. 

“Mind if I pull up a floor and sit down?” Tony asked her, getting down on the floor besides her, his knees cracking and hips protesting as he did so. Damn he was getting old.

“You wanna talk about it?” He asked her and Morgan shook her head pouting. “Well do you mind if I talk then?” Morgan shrugged and hugged her toy tighter. 

“Alright then. The reason that I’m sending you to New York with Aunt Pepper and Damian is because I’m not going to be here to take care of you and neither is Lex. All of us are going to be leaving for a while and I need you to be somewhere safe, with someone I can trust to take care of you in our absence. This isn’t a punishment and it doesn’t mean that I don’t want you around I promise. It’s just because I want you to be safe.”

As he spoke Tony reached over and stroked Morgan’s soft hair, winding it through his fingers as the little girl slowly looked up at him, her eyes wet and cheeks red from crying.

“But why can’t I come with you?” She asked, her bottom lip quivering, “I won’t get in the way I promise, I’ll be real good, and I can help you too!”

Tony smiled feeling his heart ache at her pleading, he could recall pleading with Howard in a similar way, begging to be allowed to spend time with his Father, to be given more than five minutes interest or an impatient word, or if Howard had been drinking, a sharp slap from the back of his hand.

“I wish you could.” Tony said stretching out his legs and lifting Morgan up so she could come and sit on his lap, she snuggled against him, her little arms wrapping about his chest, her damp cheeks and runny nose soaking into his shirt as she pressed her head against his torso, uncaring that she was getting snot on him. 

“The problem is that it’s too dangerous for you to come, that’s why we’re not letting Damian come, what we’re doing and where we are going are just too much of a risk for you and him.”

Morgan sniffled and rubbed her nose on the back of her sleeve, “It’s not fair.” She said.

“I know.” Tony agreed, “None of this is fair, especially not on you.” He sighed heavily and kissed Morgan’s head breathing in the strawberry scent of her shampoo, “You’re so young honey, you’ve been hurt so much already, I don’t want to see you suffer anymore pain, much less be the cause of it. I wish that what I’m doing would bring your Mother back, I wish I could do that for you.”

“I miss her.” Morgan whispered her little fingers tightening her grip on Tony’s shirt, “But it’s okay now because I got you, an Lex, an Dami.” She raised her chin to look up at Tony, “Momma said she was ‘dopted when she was little, she never knew who gave birth to her but she said it didn’t matter, ‘cause real family is made up from people you find and who find you.”

Tony smiled down at Morgan, at the innocent but very insightful words. “Your Momma was a very smart lady.” He said placing a kiss on Morgan’s forehead. “She was right about family forming from love not blood. You know Damian’s big brothers were all adopted like your Momma was, by my boyfriend Bruce.”

“Uh huh, he told be ‘bout them, Dick, Jason, and Tim, and he said that there was another boy too, that you had un-fishly ‘dopted him.” (Unofficially) 

“Yeah,” Tony whispered, his breath catching in his throat as it always did when he thought about Peter, “Yes. His name is Peter, and if what we’re doing is successful you will get to meet all of them and be part of a much bigger family, with even more people to spoil you and play with you.” He hugged her closer, “You know Damian misses his Dad the way you miss your Momma, and we can get him back, his Dad can come back home to him.” And to me, he thought but didn’t say.

“Is his Daddy nice like you?” Morgan asked making Tony smile.

“Bruce is the best Man in the whole world and he is going to adore you just as much as I do.”

Morgan appeared to ponder on this then nodded her head, “Then you gotta do it.” She said, “You gotta bring Damian’s Daddy back.” She sniffed and hugged him tighter, “But you’ll come back too, won’t you?”

Tony was thankful her face was pressed into his chest so she wouldn’t see the strain on his own. “I’m going to try to, Baby, I promise.” He said not wanting to lie to her but also not wanting to frighten her either, “I’ll do my very best to come home.”

“And we’ll be a family.” Morgan said her voice muffled into his shirt, breaking Tony’s heart all the more. “All of us together.”

“I hope so.” He whispered shutting his eyes and refusing to let the tears fall. 

*****

With her face dried and her bags packed, Tony led Morgan back into the sitting room where Lex, Damian, and Pepper were waiting for them.

“Is everything alright now?” Pepper asked looking from Morgan to Tony, who nodded his head.

“We’re good.” He said and crouched down before Morgan, “And you remember what we said about being good for Pepper, right?” Morgan nodded, hugging her toy close to her chest, “And to go and say Hi to the bots, they’ve probably been missing me and been getting into trouble, so you keep them in line, alright?”

“Promise.” Morgan said, she wrapped her arms about Tony’s neck and kissed his cheek, “Love you three thousand!” 

Tony smiled and hugged her back, returning the sentiment. 

With difficulty he got to his feet and led her over to Lex to say goodbye and watched as Pepper took Morgan’s hand, the woman turning to him, her eyes shining with concern and hope.

“Be careful.” She said, “And come back safe.”

“I’ll try.” Tony promised, kissing her cheek. He held out a hand to Damian to shake but the boy surprised him by giving him a brief hug and doing the same to Lex before grabbing his bags and disappearing out of the door.

“Be patient with him, he’s not the easiest of kids.” Lex said to Pepper.

“We’ll be fine.” She assured them, shouldering her bag, “Good luck, and come home soon.”

It took every ounce of strength Tony and Lex had as they took Pepper, Morgan, and Damian to the cars and watch them climb in and drive away, it hurt as much as a physical injury to watch them leave knowing that it might be the last time they saw them. 

“Wanna get drunk?” Lex asked,

“Definitely.” Tony said. In unison they turned and headed back up to the penthouse where Lex’s well stocked wet bar waited for them to drink it dry. 

*****

Neither Tony or Lex remembered much of what occurred over the next twelve hours, beyond sobbing for the better part of two hours, then starting in on the tequila which led to them competing over handstands and landing in a tangle of limbs, after that they started a competition to make the strongest cocktail out of the ingredients on the bar, and the everything became an alcoholic blur. 

Until a wet flannel was being slapped over Tony’s face waking him up with a start and he found himself laying half on and half off the sofa, clad in nothing but one of Bruce’s shirts and for some reason a cowl that was askew. 

“Whazat whzzz g’in on?” Lex slurred, his bald head popping up from behind the sofa where he had been laying in a pile of pillows, naked but for a pair of purple boxers and had I <3 Superman!!! Written over his chest in lipstick.

“How the hell are you two not dead?” Steve asked looking at the decimated wet board.

“It’s a super power, Cap.” Tony groaned curling up into a ball and wishing his head would stop spinning, or was it the room? “It’s call cast iron livers.”

“I wanna die.” Lex moaned joining Tony on the sofa and throwing his arms over his head.

“I’ve got coffee on the way, plus water and pain killers.” Rhodey’s voice wafted out of the kitchen.

“You are a saint and I love you.” Tony declared lifting a hand and pointing in the general direction of the kitchen. 

“And you are a pain in my ass.” Rhodey said bringing the water over and cringing when Tony sat up, his shirt or rather Bruce’s shirt riding up, “God sakes get him some pants, I don’t need the Stark Naked treatment, I got enough of his pasty ass in college.”

“On it.” Steve said, heading for the bedrooms.

“My ass is platinum.” Tony said, rubbing his face, “Why are you here?” 

“Wong called.” Steve said coming out of the bedroom with a pair of underpants which he threw at Tony. “The receptacles are ready.”

“They are?” Tony rose to his feet, too fast as the room began to spin forcing him to sit down with a groan of pain.

“Fully sober up first.” Rhodey said bringing the coffee over, “Then we’ll all go to the sanctum together.”

“I hate being sober.” Lex mumbled just about falling into the coffee cup that Rhodey set before him, “Can you put a vodka in this?”

“No” Both Rhodey and Steve said at the same time.

“We’re cutting you both off.” Rhodey said, “And dumping your billionaire asses in the shower before we go to the Sanctum.”

“He’s got a thing for asses.” Tony stage whispered to Lex, “He secretly crushes on mine.”

“You wish Stark.”

“Shall I make them some breakfast?” Steve asked, getting a resounding no from both billionaires, Rhodey shook his head.

“I think they’d just throw it up, Cap, best stick to the water and coffee for a while.”

“Yes to the coffee, need more of it.” Lex said, getting to his feet and staggering to the kitchen to get hold of the coffee pot, “Gonna need lots of this and then more to follow.” To Steve’s horror, Rhodey’s amusement, and Tony’s dismay, Lex got a measuring jug out of the cupboard, tipped the coffee into it, adding cream and sugar and took off to the bathroom with it, drinking as he went.

“I hate my life.” Tony declared dramatically and threw himself back down on the sofa, pulling a pillow over his aching head, “Wake me up when there’s more coffee, and the world isn’t so bright and loud anymore.” 

Sighing and rolling his eyes Rhodey padded back to the kitchen to make a fresh pot, and Steve sat down in an arm chair. 

This was going to be a long morning.


	14. Chapter 14

Still hungover but more awake and alert than they had been, Lex and Tony, went with Rhodey and Steve to the New York Sanctum and collected the receptacles from Wong and a the few sorcerer’s that had survived the snap. 

“What material is this?” Lex asked, holding the crystal like container up to the light. It sparkled and shone with prisms, looking almost like it was made of glass, but the texture was wrong for glass, it was too strong for that, more like that of precious stone. 

“There is no name for it.” Wong replied, “But they will be sufficient to hold the atoms. Assuming you can collected them.”

Tony rose an eyebrow, “Assuming?” 

“Well something like this has never been done before.” Wong said with a shrug, “I think reasonable doubt is to be expected. However, I do have faith in you.” The fact his expression didn’t change at all didn’t help much, he said as deadpan as always. 

“No wonder that asshole Strange likes you so much.” Tony drawled, “The two of you are made for each other.”

“How do we open these things?” Steve asked trying to find a lip on the containers but only found smooth surface on every side. 

“Brush the tip of your finger over the top.” One of the junior sorcerers said, demonstrating for Steve, and the top side of the container seemed to disappear revealing a hollow interior.

“Very cool.” Rhodey said appreciatively.

“So this is it then.” Lex said, “We’re ready,”

“As we’ll ever be.” Tony agreed wetting his lips and looking around at Steve and Rhodey, “You know I was gonna say let’s all take the night, go out to dinner, or to a club, get wasted, get laid, whatever, but I think instead we should just do this, no waiting.”

“I agree.” Rhodey said with a nod, “We’re none of us going to be able to relax or enjoy ourselves, all we’ll be thinking about is this, so, let’s just do it.”

******

Ninety minutes later the entire team were on board the ship going through the last minute pre-space flight checks, securing the receptacles and the Pym particles so they’d be safe for the journey, along with Iron-Man/Ant Man nano tech designed suits for going into the quantum realm. 

“We’re all clear from air and space stations across the board.” Rhodey reported. As Nebula and Rocket for acting as the main pilots he was acting as communications between them and Earth. “We are good to go.” He paused and smiled, “They’re wishing us luck from across the planet.” 

“Their mouths to Gods ears.” Scott murmured resting a hand over the pym particles container, Tony’s hand joined his in a comforting squeeze. 

“We got this.” He said, “Just take a deep breath and keep on breathing.”

“Right, breathe, just breathe.” He said nodded, “It’s kind of nerve racking isn’t it, this hero stuff? I mean it just freaks the hell out of you when you think about it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it is super cool and amazing and it’s like Hey, I’m a freakin’ superhero, but also at the same time, you’re kinda like, Holy fuck I’m a fucking superhero, how the fuck did I end up here, how is this my life?”

“I used to sell weapons to the US military, my Godfather betrayed me and had me kidnapped and tortured in the desert for three months and I made the first Iron Man suit so I could escape.” 

Scott stared at Tony who shrugged, “That’s how this is my life.” 

“Right.” Scott nodded, “Right, you were… and Captain America was the first super-soldier, and Fuck I think I’m gonna have a panic attack!” 

“No time for it, just breathe.” Tony said patting his shoulder, “Breathe.”

“Breathe.” Scott repeated, “Breathe.”

“Alright boys and Girls.” Rocket’s voice came over the coms, “Hold onto your asses, because here we go!”

The ship rose up from the ground, rising up above metropolis, Rocket lifted the nose and then they were arching towards the edge of the atmosphere and going out into space, leaving the earth behind them.

“So what’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?” Clint asked, he, Scott, Steve, Natasha, and Banner were sat in one end of the Bridge, amusing themselves as Rocket and Nebula piloted the ship, Thor checked the navigation with the help of Akai, Rhodey was with Lex, Tony, and Diana in the amniotic chamber, keeping an eye on everything from there. 

“Those P.S.A videos for schools.” Steve said with a groan, “The Sex-Ed ones… I wanted to die.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Natasha said, “No one will have paid them any attention.”

“Thanks.” Steve said, not sure if he should have been insulted by that or not. 

“Here’s another question, what’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done?” Scott asked.

“Got turned into a giant green rage monster.” Banner deadpanned, everyone stared at him and then shrugged, there really wasn’t much beating that.

“Tasha’s turn.” Clint said, grinned at her glare even though he knew it meant pain in the near future.

“Fine.” Natasha said her lips curving up into her most evil smile that made the hair stand up on the back of everyone’s necks. “Who here has fantasized about sex..”

“Uh everyone.” Clint snorted.

“Let me finish.” Natasha said, “Fantasized about sex with Tony Stark?” 

“I have!” Thor offered from the controls, “Man of Iron is most pleasing to the eye. In fact I used to consider enquiring if he would care to partake in a multi-person copulation with myself and Jane…”

“Okay big guy, TMI.” Clint cried, “Seriously, just… don’t ever say anything about that again.” He turned back to Natasha, “And no, hell no, and never. I am hetero, nothing about Stark get’s me going.”

“yeah but he is hot.” Scott said then flushed beetroot when all eyes turned on him, “I’m just saying.” He mumbled ducking his head. 

“He flirts so much that you can’t help but think about it.” Banner mused, “Or about strangling him.”

“Strangle, definitely strangle.” Clint said and pointed at Natasha, “What about you, did you fantasize about him?” 

Natasha smirked, “Of course. I fantasized about putting that smart mouth of his to a far better use.” Her smile grew wider as all of the men turned crimson. Steve looking ready to pass out from embarrassment. 

“What about you Cap, you ever think about bending Stark over and introducing him to you star spangled banner?” Clint asked. 

Steve opened his mouth, his cheeks becoming purple as he made a few garbled noises and just gave up, slumping in defeat. 

“So, I think that concludes this absurd game.” Natasha said getting to her feet and stretching, “I’m going to get some coffee, anyone else want some?”

“Me.” Scott said rising to his feet, the others doing the same and Banner said he’d make tea. 

Down in the amniotic chamber the others were playing much the same game, only instead of admitting to embarrassing situations they’d been in, they were speculating on who would win in a fight against whom. 

“Hulk VS Superman?” Rhodey asked, “Both have super strength, both are practically impervious to harm, who would win?”

“Clark.” Lex said automatically.

“Conflict of interest there, Lexy.” Tony said, “Hulk makes a mean punch, he could smack Clark across a continent.”

“And Clark could laser beam him, and freeze him.” Lex countered, “Plus he can fly, Hulk just bounces.”

“Then ensuing destruction from such a battle would be catastrophic.” Diana said, “Captain America VS Batman.” 

“Batman.” Lex and Tony said at the same time. 

“He doesn’t have super strength.” Rhodey said.

“No but he’s proficient in every martial arts ever invented, is a genius, and has fought a super soldier before and won.” Lex of course meant Bane. 

“Okay, Cyborg VS Antman.” Tony asked, and was unsurprised when the unanimous answer was Cyborg. 

“How’s it going in here?” Natasha asked coming into the chamber.

“We’re all good.” Tony said, “Thing One, Thin Two, say hi to the Black widow.” The twin androids splashed in the water. 

“What about the Black Widow VS Batman?” Lex asked, “Now that would be an epic fight.”

“Very bloody.” Rhodey agreed nodding his head as Squiddly arched a limb from the water and Ursula swam by, interacted with Facehugger briefly. 

“I think they’d be pretty evenly matched.” Diana agreed. Natasha dipped her head in acknowledgement. After all, this discussion was no more ridiculous than the one she’d been having with the others.

“Thor VS Aquaman.” Tony asked, “Now that would be one hell of a fight.” 

***** 

While the trip across the Universe to Thanos’ planet was taking more than twenty-four hours, no one could sleep. Everyone was just too wired, and found themselves milling about the ship, huddling up under blankets to look out at the stars, taking it in turns to brew tea and make Coffee, fetching snacks, and just sitting around passing the time. 

“I recorded a message for Bruce.” Tony said quietly to Lex as they sat in the amniotic chamber, their bare feet in the water being tickled by the androids, who’d become much more playful with their interactions with Morgan. “Just in case, you know?”

“Yeah.” Lex nodded, “I wrote a letter for Clark, I’ll bet all of us have done something like that, just in case.”

“If we don’t make it back, but we do succeed then it will have been worth it.” Tony said, “They’ll understand that, I hope they understand that.” 

“They will.” Lex whispered. “I did, after Doomsday. I understood Clark’s sacrifice. It broke my heart but I understood.” He sighed and leaned forward over his legs, “Maybe we are asking too much, to have them all back and expect to be with them, maybe our deaths will be the only way the scales can balance.”

“Maybe.” Tony murmured, “But then, no. There has been so much death because of what Thanos has done that those scales must already be out of balance, what we are doing is tipping them back towards the balance, and as for cosmic prices or cosmic order, fuck them! Where the hell were they when Thanos was snapping away two thirds of the frickin’ universe?” He shook his head, a look of determination filling his eyes, “The Universe owes us a win, no high powers lifted a damn finger to stop Thanos, nor have they done shit since then, it’s been all on us to right every wrong. So they hell with it, we are owed a happy ending, and we are damn well going to get it.”

*****

New York.

Damian stared up at the stars in the sky from the balcony. Morgan and Pepper had long since gone to bed but he couldn’t sleep, all he could think about was Tony and Lex, far away on the ship, heading to Thanos’ planet to do the impossible. 

The entire world was waiting like him with baited breath for the outcome of this mission, waiting and hoping for a miracle. 

Damian didn’t believe in miracles, or luck, the league hadn’t believed in them, only in the achievements of themselves through discipline and dedication. His Father didn’t believe in miracles either, or at least he hadn’t, until Superman had come back.

Maybe if that miracle could be achieved then this one could too? 

Damian wasn’t sure, but he hoped that it could, because he did know that he was not ready to become Batman, to be the only hero left standing or to take on the responsibility of WE, SI, and Lexcorp and he doubted that he ever would be.


	15. Chapter 15

Thanos’ Planet.

Everyone was on alert as Rocket and Nebula took the ship down through the planet’s atmosphere and landed upon the field of odd vegetation outside of the shack that Thanos had been living in prior to his decapitation courtesy of Thor. 

His body was of course still there, a decomposed corpse with his head laying several feet away from his body. 

“Not too dissimilar to earth.” Tony noted checking the readings of the atmosphere, “A slightly higher concentration of oxygen than nitrogen but nothing remarkable, and twenty percent more land mass to water mass than earth.”

“This is relevant why?” Clint asked, 

All of the scientists on board turned as one and gave him a pitying look as if he were a very slow child. 

“Forget I said anything.” He sighed.

“Hey, on our way back can we take a look at Jupiter’s moons?” Lex asked, “I’d love to see Io close up, those volcano’s erupting, and the Icy surface of Europa.”

“Let’s see Saturn too, those rings.” Scott said with a grin, “Which one of them is raining methane?” 

“Titan.” Tony said, “There’s a little irony. We could go and take a look at the moon Titan after defeating the last Titan’s crazy scheme.”

“It’d be karmic.” Natasha said, “We should do a tour of the whole solar system, I’d personally love to see Neptune.”

The chatter about what they’d do once they succeeded helped with the nervousness as they all went to get suited up and prepared to enter the Quantum realm. 

“I suppose someone should say something.” Steve said, “About what we’re about to do, I would say that this is the fight of our lives, but there is no fight, but a rescue missions of sorts which we cannot and will not fail. Everyone knows their objective, stay in your team, work together and we will see this done.”

He looked around at the group, everyone was nodding, agreeing with what he said. 

“He’s not to bad at that.” Rocket said.

“Ain’t that the truth?” Tony agreed looking to Steve, “Call it Cap.” He said, “We’re going Quantum in five, four…”

“Avengers…”

“Three, two..”

“Assemble.”

“One.”

*****

It was disorienting being in the quantum realm. Everything seemed different at such a height or rather lack of height, everything seemed much more imposing, just the ordinary everyday things like blades of grass were immense when one was microscopic. 

Thankfully Tony and Scott had made these suits with repulsor tech so they could fly, if they hadn’t then it would have taken an age just to get outside of the ship and into the open air. 

“There are readings similar to that of the Infinity stones in several directions.” Banner said, “I suggest we split up and go searching as this could take a while.”

“Alright, everyone be careful.” Steve said, “No one take any unnecessary risks.”

“Uh, what would define an unnecessary risk in this instance?” Lex asked, 

“He’s got a point.” Clint agreed.

“Just be careful.” Steve said, “Watch each others backs and stay in contact.”

“Gotcha Cap.”

“Aye Captain.”

“Yes Sir, Captain America.”

Diana and Banner were the first to reach their atoms. The bright baubles of green looked like shimmering emeralds amongst the other atoms that they were seeing as they moved through the planet. 

“It’s strange, I think the atoms of each stone are staying in the same place, moving together in groups, as if they are… well connected, they are not reacting like atoms normally act.” Banner reported as he and Diana began their collection, very carefully placing the atoms in the receptacle. 

“Ugh, Strange.” Tony grunted, “Poor choice of words Brucie Bear.”

“If they are staying in groups then that’s good, it’ll make collection easier.” Steve said. 

“It is likely the fact that they are unique to the universe that their atoms do not respond the way others do, as they are in fact different.” Nebula said. 

“Probably.” Lex agreed, “But lets save this debate for later.”

He and Tony were next to find the atoms, finding the electric blue atoms lazily circling each other, almost as if they were slow dancing in a mockery of the way Atoms usually sped about at immense speed. 

“Do you think they’re trying to reforge themselves?” Lex asked as he began to gather the atoms, holding them carefully in his hands and putting them into the receptacle.

“Maybe, they are or were sentient.” Tony said, “At least the Mind Stone was, so I guess they could be.” 

Between them they collected all of the atoms and locked them into the receptacle that glowed like a blue star. 

“Is it just me or can you feel something from them?” Lex asked with a frown, “Not like a bad feeling so much as a presence of sorts?”

“It is not just you.” Diana replied, “Perhaps they do have an awareness beyond our understanding.”

Steve and Scott reached the Mind Stone after this, the sparkling gold looking like fragments of sunlight floating in the air.

“I never knew it’d be so pretty.” Scott said, holding one in his palm, “They are beautiful.”

“Don’t hold onto these atoms for too long.” Banner called over the coms, “I’ve taken a reading of them in the receptacles, they are putting out radiation, our suits can handle it but don’t take risks, get them into the receptacles as fast as you can.”

Scott yelped and just about flung the atoms away from himself, Steve caught it and put it into the receptacle holding the crystal out for Scott to take, “I’ll collect them, you hold this.”

“Yeah, okay, that’s…. that’s a good idea.” Scott agreed.

Thor and Rocket found the ruby red pieces of the Reality Stone next, the atoms glowing and shining besides a river that looked more like an ocean in their current forms. 

“You know it was Jane Foster my Ex-Girlfriend who found this stone.” Thor reminisced, “When the Dark Elf Malikieth was attempting to destroy Midgard.” 

“We know Thor.” Natasha sighed having heard this story a thousand an one times already. No that her exasperation had any effect on Thor at all as he continued to speak regardless.

“She was transported to another planet and put her hand inside a rock, and the Reality Stone, which was a sludge like thing, put itself inside of her.”

Rocket turned and gave Thor a disgusted look, “That’s a real gross description, Big Guy.” He said, then glared down at the red atoms, “Dontcha even think of puttin’ yourselves inside me.” He growled darkly.

Natasha and Clint chased the glowing orange embers to a barren and rocky part of the planet, where the Soul stone was scattered, the atoms still in the same vicinity but keeping a distance from one another. 

“I swear I can feel cold fingers running down the back of my neck.” Clint said as he and Natasha began to collect them. 

“It is unnerving.” She agreed feeling all of her hair prickling as if a cold wind had blown over her. Perhaps it was psychological, or perhaps it was the effect of the stone itself. 

Once all the atoms were collected they seemed to pulse in a heartbeat like rhythm in the receptacle as if they were alive. “That is fricken’ creepy.” Clint said shaking his head, “Let’s get back to the ship and get this done.”

Rhodey and Nebula were last having to travel the furthest to find the atoms of the power stone, the bright purple shimmers of energy were hovering over a glade that might as well have been a forest for Rhodey and Nebula with the grass towering over them in their forms. 

They had to use their repulsors to fly up to the top of the grass to collect the atoms which sent static like shocks into their hands as they did so. 

“Quill stole this stone from Morag.” Nebula said pausing to admire a purple atom on her hand before popping it into the receptacle.”

“From who?” Scott asked over the coms.

“Not who, Dumbass,” Rocket sneered, “Morag is a planet not a person.”

“So Quill was a thief.” Rhodey said to Nebula.

“Yes,” She replied, “And an imbecile who somehow seduced my Sister into fornicating with him.”

“Huh, so he was kind of your Brother-in-law.” Rhodey froze for a second actually afraid that Nebula might disembowel him when she shot him such an irritated look. However she subsided after a moment and shrugged.

“I suppose he was.” 

*****

With all the Atoms gathered and safely stored in the receptacles the team met back at the ship and transformed back into regular size, Tony, Lex, and Banner taking the receptacles down to the amniotic chamber and very carefully setting them into the amniotic liquid so that Akai could scan them.

“They are like nothing previously discovered, make up is utterly unique and properties defy all logic.” 

“That sounds about right.” Tony murmured, “So what do you think? If we put all the energy of the ship into the chamber along with extra from my arc reactor will it be sufficient to re-forge them?”

“It is possible but only hypothetically speaking.” Akai replied, “I have no data to support this theory.”

Tony glanced to Lex who nodded, “We’ve come this far, we have nothing to loose.”

“But our limbs.” Rocket murmured.

“Fear not sweet Rabbit, I shall protect you.” Thor said.

“Yeah, about that.” Tony said, “How about everyone who isn’t a scientific genius get’s their asses out of here, and in fact out of the ship completely. There is no way of knowing what’s going to happen and it could get… explosive.”

“Tony…” Steve began but Natasha caught his arm shaking her head.

“He’s right, let’s go.” 

With reluctance and wishing Banner, Lex, and Tony luck the others filed out of the ship and got a mile away before they began to work, getting the drones to gather the receptacles in the centre of the fluid, the large tentacles descending from the ceiling to hold them in place, the limbs opening the top of the crystals and exposing the atoms to the fluid but keeping them from floating away. 

“Alright Akai, on my mark.” Tony said as he, Lex, and Bruce stood as far back as they could, suited up although it was unclear how good that protection would be considering what they were about to do.

“Preparing TonyStark.” 

“And on three, two, one.”

Blinding white light filled the chamber with a noise so loud that it went beyond human hearing range, flashes of red, gold, blue, purple, orange, and green flashed like lightning as the chamber exploded like a supernova. 

From the retreated position the Avengers watched in awe like terror as the centre of the ship blew apart in a vast explosion of colour and light that seemed to rain down upon the ground, the remains of the ship fell apart leaving a crater between the two halves, dust, ash, and liquid filled the air in swirling storm that scattered debris across the land transforming what it touched.

“Come in guys, Lex, Tony, Banner, respond!” Steve shouted over the coms as they all began to run back, everyone fearing the worst. 

“Oh God, oh God.” Scott repeated.

“Are you guys all right, are you hurt, respond!” 

“Tony talk to me!” 

“Lex answer me.”

“Guys.” Came Banner’s wheezing response, he coughed and groaned, “I’m okay, I think… I think… Oh my God!”


	16. Chapter 16

Lex awoke screaming in pain. Unlike Banner and Tony, he was still inside part of the ship, having been blow back when the ship had exploded, and tossed through the corridors of the ship, finally coming to a stop in the completely destroyed remains of the engine room. 

He had not landed easily though, his right leg was crumbled beneath him and he could see the outline of his thigh bone sticking up under his suit, with the rest of his leg twisted under his body, his foot at a horrible angle and the entire limb was throbbing with pain. 

“Lex? Lex are you alright?” Diana asked over the coms.

“No I’m bloody not.” The young billionaire shouted back, cursing and trying to move, but just shifting an inch caused more pain to shoot through him and he was pinned down by broken metal making moving an impossibility. 

“Just stay where you are, we’ll come to you.” Diana said.

“Yeah, like I have a choice.” Lex almost sobbed, the pain was making him feel sick, making him want to break down and cry, but wouldn’t do so, he still had his pride, mangled leg or not.

Outside the ship things were no better, Banner staggered to his feet coughing as the dust settled about him and stared as creatures rose up from the ground, shrieking and snarling, bearing huge bone like teeth from their unnaturally wide jaws. Their features were twisted and malformed, their bodies large but bone thin, in fact it appeared as if they were made of bone alone with no flesh, but their limbs were massive and huge claws stretched from their hands and feet.

“What in the hell are they?” Clint yelled over the coms.

“I don’t know.” Banner mumbled, staring at them, “The amniotic liquid must have revived a long extinct race of creatures native to this planet, it must have brought…” He broke off as a roar split the air, he turned his head and watched with growing horror as Thanos himself, head haphazardly placed back on his neck, having been resealed by the liquid, staggered from his hut. 

He didn’t look alive, not really. He was still pale, decomposing, parts of his flesh hanging off, and his eyes were clouded over like a corpses, yet he was moving, was storming down to join the other creatures on the ground, heading for Banner, and Tony who was just coming too.

“Holy shit.” Tony murmured as his vision cleared as he saw the creatures, stumbling to his feet he backed away firing off his repulsors at the creatures closest to him, they stumbled back, pausing for a moment then continued to run at him and Banner. 

“Oh, this could be bad.” Tony said, standing side by side Banner.

“I’m not sure bad covers it.” Banner replied, balling his fists ready to fight, but just as the closest creatures reached them, Thor landed down in front of them and took their heads off with Storm breaker. 

“Nice timing big guy.” Tony said as a flash of blue caught his eye, tesseract blue, “If you and the others can handle these fuckers I’m going to get the stones.”

“Aye Man of Iron.” Thor declared spinning Storm breaker, making thunder rumble and lightning flash in the sky. 

Steve lead the rest of the Avengers down onto what had become a battlefield, shouting out orders as they went. 

“Scott, find Lex, help him, protect him from these things.” 

“Gotcha Captain.” Scott said running towards the nearest shell of the ship to begin searching for Lex. 

“Clint, find a vantage point, Rhodey take the skies.”

“On it Cap.” Rhodey said, taking hold of Clint and flying them both up into the air, placing Clint on top of Thanos’ hut giving him a free view of the battle field to shoot from. He then shot off into the skys and began to pick off the creatures, even giving a shit at Thanos, whom Thor was tackling. 

“Natasha, Diana take nine ‘o’ clock and three ‘o’ clock, Nebular you’re on point, Rocket you’ve got our six, and make each shot count.” Steve flung his shield forward in Nebula’s wake as she leapt up over onto of the creatures and brought her dagger down into the head of another, while Diana and Natasha broke away from him, leaving Rocket bringing up the rear and firing his guns at everything that moved. 

Steve’s shield slammed into the creature slicing it nearly in half and putting it down on the ground, retrieving the shield he used it to block a blow coming from another creature and braced his weight against it as he leaped up, kicking his feet into the head of another, letting the momentum carry him around and brought the shield down on the back of one of the creatures necks severing it’s head and brought the shield around slicing it through the face of the other. 

“The heads are their weakness destroy the head and they die.” Rocket bellowed, smashing the butt of his gun into the skull of the creatures, as his height put him at a disadvantage he had destroyed their legs, bringing them down to his level so he could smash in their skulls.

“Thanks for the advice.” Natasha grunted, her legs about the shoulders of on of the creatures as she picked off others with her widow bites and handguns. 

Diana’s sword sliced the heads clean off the creatures and she moved easily through their ranks, using their own bodies as leverage, leaping high into the air and bringing her blade down through the head of one of the creatures, tucking and rolling then sprang up and drove her sword through the chest of another, a deft move with her forearm had it’s legs out from under it and within a second she was on her feet and slicing it’s head off and moving onto the next foe, barely flinching as Clint’s arrows exploded two creatures either side of her. 

“You’ve got more in coming guys.” He warned them, “These fuckers are springing up from the ground all over.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got the stragglers.” Rhodey said taking War Machine to the far side of the battle field and rained fire down on them. 

Meanwhile Banner was beating his way through the creatures, his sheer bulk knocking them back and his fists shattering their skulls, as Thor beat down on Thanos, pouring all of his rage into resurrected Titan. 

With the others keeping the creatures off him for the most part Tony was able to scavenge his way across the land, finding the tesseract first and placing it into his right gauntlet, shuddering as the energy coursed through his body. 

Ahead of him he could see bright sparks of amber, the mind stone, and beyond it the glow of red, the reality stone. 

Shooting down creatures as he ran, Tony placed the next two stones into his gauntlet stifling a cry of pain as lightning seemed to flow up his arm, numbing it but leaving his chest and head aching. 

Panting he rested his weight on one knee, blinking furiously as his vision blurred, he could taste blood on his lips as his nose bled. The power of the stones was poisoning his body, was destroying him piece by piece, but he had to hold on, there was more yet to be done, ahead he could see bright green, the time stone and he forced himself up determined to reach it. 

Scott stumbled, crawled, climbed, and scrambled his way through the ship to the engine room making his way to where Lex was laying, pinned and half buried beneath broken and ruined equipment. 

“Lang!” He cried, seeing the engineer. 

“Shit, Lex.” Scott crouched down trying to see a way to get Lex free without hurting him further. He winced at the sight of Lex’s leg, could see blood spreading beneath the billionaire, likely from where a bone had broken through the skin. 

“What the hell is happening out there?” Lex demanded.

“Zombies.” Scott said looking around for something to use as a jack to push the metal up and off Lex, “There are zombies, even Thanos is a zombie!” He found a steal girder and wedged it under the metal pushing down on the free end and managed to push the metal over Lex up a few inches, “Can you scoot forward?”

“I’ve a broken leg you jackass.” Lex snarled, “I can’t fucking move.”

“Try!” Scott cried, “I can’t hold this up and get you out.”

Lex snarled wordlessly and grit his teeth, laying himself flat despite the agony it send through his leg and braced his hands on the ground, pushing himself down the floor, sliding under the metal, sobbing as he went, as his broken bones were further twisted and jarred, tears flowed down his cheeks and it was only sheer will that kept him from vomiting. 

“Come on, you can do this.” Scott encouraged, “Just a bit further.” 

Panting, sweating, and sobbing Lex pushed himself those last few inches and then flopped on the ground shaking with pain and exertion. 

Scott let go of the girder and went to his side, kneeling down to look at the leg, which was still beneath Lex, blood trailing behind him and still seeping out from under him. 

“I need to try and straighten it.” He said looking terrified at touching the limb.

“Just do it.” Lex ground it, doubting the pain could get much worse. He was proven wrong, as lightning bolts of agony shot through him, as Scott took him by the shoulders and eased him to lean his weight on his left side, so he could move the broken leg out from under him. 

For a second Lex thought he would faint, the pain grew so intense as Scott moved the limb as carefully as he could, and when he dared look at his leg, Lex wished he had fainted and spared himself the sight of his mangled leg. 

Both the tibia and fibular were broken, the bones sticking out of the skin, twice from the fibular, and his foot was twisted around so that his heel was facing the front of his leg and the rest of his foot at the back.

“We’ll fix this, we’ll get it fixed.” Scott babbled, clearly having never seen such a severe injury.

“Fuck my leg.” Lex hissed laying down on his back, “Just make this worth it, just bring back Clark.”

“Working on it honey.” Tony said over the coms, “Just two more to go.”

Tony was sweating profusely, he’d lost the sight in his right eye and his arm was useless, hanging heavy at his side as he dragged himself across the ground, collecting the power stone, and placing it in the gauntlet, leaving just the soul stone. 

With his legs giving out, he had to use the suit to fly him over to where the soul stone lay, sagging down onto the ground he picked it up and placed it into the gauntlet letting out a strangled cry as impossible amounts of energy surged through him, burning him all over his right side, irradiating his blood and filling him with poison that began to ravage the rest of his form. 

Sputtering bloody breaths Tony supported his right hand with his left, getting his thumb and middle finger together. Closing his eyes he concentrated, silently chanting the words, “Bring them back.” 

Slowly and with immense effort he snapped his fingers sending a wave of power throughout the universe and fell to the ground.


	17. Chapter 17

Chernobyl 

The Justice League stumbled around looking at each other. They were standing right where they had been yet things looked different, less… dusty, the air had settled, the earth had settled, was not longer turned over with fresh odd flowers growing, it looked as if several months had passed by. 

That was not all that was different. 

“Lex?” Clark shouted looking around for Dragonfly who had been at his side, “Lex where are you?”

“Diana?” Bruce called, “Where are they, what the hell is going on?” 

“I don’t know but what ever it is, it’s all over.” Cyborg said frowning as he received data, “The whole planet’s insane, they’re saying…” He broke off his face creasing as he listened.

“What?” Arthur demanded, “What’s going on?” 

“Alfred?” Bruce asked, “Alfred, what’s going on?” His heart skipped several beats when Alfred took a few moments to reply. 

“I don’t know exactly Master Wayne, but…. It looks like no one’s been in the cave for months.”

“What?”

“It’s months, we’ve been gone for months.” Cyborg said swallowing hard as attention returned to him, “They’re saying something about someone called Thanos and a snap…. Jesus Christ,” He actually turned pale as more information reached him, “He killed half the universe, us included, made us turn to ash.”

The team looked back and forth, “And we’re back now, how?” Flash asked, “And where are Lex and Diana?”

“They’re with the Avengers,” Victor said, “What was left of them, they’ve taken your ship to another planet.” He looked to Clark when he said this, “They fixed the ship, Tony Stark, Lex, engineers from Wakanda. They had some plan to reverse what this Thanos did, I guess it worked.”

“Whoa wait, what?” Arthur asked waving his hands, “Bat Boy’s squeeze is on another planet with Wonder Boy’s squeeze, and Diana?”

“It’s Bat Man.”

“It’s Super Man, and Lex is not my squeeze!” 

“What about the boys, Alfred, are the boys alright?” Bruce suddenly barked into the com, “Damian, is he alright?”

“I don’t know Master Bruce, he isn’t here, no one is here.”

“This is insane.” Barry murmured shifting uncomfortably, then just about leaped out of his skin when a portal opened besides him and a man with facial hair similar to Tony’s stepped out. 

“Forgive the interruption.” He said dusting off a Cloak, “But I am afraid you are all needed elsewhere.”

“Excuse me?” Bruce asked incredulous, 

“He says we’ve got to go and kick not quite dead Thanos’ ass to save Mr Stark and Mr Luthor, Mr Wayne,” Spiderman called through the portal which showed a strange, orange looking planet where several others were gathered, one human and a couple of aliens, one of which had antenna on her head! 

“Whoa, Superman!” Spiderman’s eyes bugged, “Holy crap it worked, they brought you back, OHMYGOD that is so incredible, and do you know Dr Weird, I mean Mr Strange, Magic cloak guy said that its been months since we all got dusted? You guys were too right? It was so freaky, seriously turning to ash, and Mr Stark he looked so upset and he’d been stabbed, but he must be okay, because he’s gone after said that Titan guy.”

“Whoa stop, Kid breathe, you’re giving me a migraine.” Quill cried.

“We need to go.” Strange said, “The Avenger’s need us, Stark’s plan to bring back the stone worked, but that’s not all it brought back.”

“Stone?” Clark asked looking around for information,

Strange sighed and gestured to the portal, “I’ll explain enroute.”

*****

New York

The moment he knew that something was happening, Damian phoned the manor, standing up on his top toes and bouncing around as he waited for an answer. Morgan stood up on the couch watching him as he waited, his heart leaping as Alfred answered the phone. 

“Alfred, oh my God, is Father there, Jason, Tim, and Dick?” 

“Damian, oh thank God, where are you?” Alfred replied sounding relieved, “What is going on?”

“That’s a really long story Alfred and I’ll tell you everything, but… is Father…”

“He’s gone to another planet with the rest of his team.” Alfred said then paused as a beeping came over the line, “Hold on Damian, I’ve got incoming calls from your brothers.”

Damian let out a sigh of relief and felt tears prick in his eyes as his Brother’s voices reached his ears. Across the room Pepper was on the phone with Happy Hogan who’d come back from the snap. 

“Damian, what has been going on?” Dick asked, “Where is Bruce, what has happened?”

“A lot has happened.” Damian said, “And it’s going to take some explaining.”

*****

Thanos’ Planet.

Steve hit the ground and rolled over three times before he came to a stop. He coughed and spat bloody spittle out of his mouth trying to catch his breath which had been knocked out of him. 

“They just keep coming Cap, I don’t think we can hold them.” Clint called over the Coms.

Breathing heavily Steve got back onto his feet and looked around at the battle field with a growing sense of defeat, Clint was right, they did just keep on coming and coming, more and more of these creatures were coming out of the ground and pouring down on them.

“Hey, coming up on your left Cap.” 

The voice came out of nowhere and Steve froze thinking he was hearing things, then on his left a portal opened, a portal from Wakanda, followed by another, and another, soon dozens of portals were opening and warriors from Wakanda, sorcerers from Kamma Taj, and other heroes were stepping through them, out onto the battle field. 

“Holy Shit are you seeing this?” Clint yelled, letting out a cry of disbelieving laughter, a sentiment shared by the rest of the team as reinforcements arrived just in the nick of time.

Sam flew out in a proud arch joining Rhodey in the sky, followed by several Wakandan jets and Superman himself soaring up into the sky and targeting the creatures with his laser vision. 

“What you gone and got yourself into now, Punk?” Bucky asked, firing off his gun as he joined Steve, Wakandan soldiers charging out lead by T’Challa, Okoye, and Shuri who was armed with gauntlets similar to the Iron Man gauntlets. 

“Oh you know, just the usual undead alien brawls.” Steve replied with a nonchalant shrug and slammed his shield into the head of an on coming creature, “Jesus Bucky!” he enveloped his old friend into an embrace, holding him tight, afraid he might lose him again if he let go. From behind him Aquaman leaped up into the skys and bore down onto the creatures with his trident, Flash sped through the crowds toppling creatures this way and that like they were skittles, Cyborg joined the other flight capable heroes blasting down on the creatures, as Bat charged into hand to hand, proving as deadly as the black widow herself as he took down foes. 

“Is that everyone?” Strange asked Wong as they conjured shields.

“What, you wanted more?” Wong demanded exasperated, “You are more infuriating than Stark!”

Smirking Stephen lead them into battle, with Spider Man webbing himself over their heads and leaping on top of the creatures as they joined the fray, the Guardians right behind him, Quill and Mantis shooting off their weapons as Drax charged in, his powerful body beating down those in his path. 

“We may yet win this day!” Thor cried striking off Thanos’ head for the second time and Banner almost gleefully stomped on it until it was flattened and they were both sure he was completely dead.

Magical energy shot around the battle field, The Sorcerers and Wanda’s as they took out creatures, the allies in the air all being taken by surprise when powerful energy began to rain down from the skys above them and Captain Marvel descended. 

“Sorry I’m late.” She apologised letting out blast after blast of energy.

With her present Clark broke off the attack for a moment, going over to what remained of his ship and ripping open the sides, tossing metal and machinery out of the way until he found Lex and Scott inside. 

“CLARK!” Lex’s scream was a cri de Coeur at the sight of the Kryptonian.

“Holy shit that’s Superman.” Scott whispered in awe. Ignoring Scott Clark floated inside the ship, his eyes fixed on Lex and on his mangled leg. 

“Baby..”

“It’s okay,” Lex said reaching for Clark, his hands going about his face, pulling the Kryptonia down so he could kiss him, “You’re back, everything is okay.” He was crying as he said this, crying and laughing, all of his emotions were a jumble and he couldn’t let go of Clark, he had to keep holding onto him, not that Clark was complaining in the least, looking very reluctant to let go of Lex. 

“Superman!” Falcon called over the coms, “We’ve nearly got it, Cyborg thinks a combination of your power with his, Captain Marvel, and Thor’s lightning will finish this!”

Clark groaned, “Can’t they find another Kryptionian?” 

Lex sputtered out a laugh, “No rest for the wicked.” He said sniffing hard and pushed at Clark’s chest, “Go, I’ll be fine.”

Clark’s face creased, he was reluctant to leave Lex, especially as he was injured, “Umm, I can take care of him.” Scott offered, 

“And me!” Flash panted suddenly appearing, “And is it just me or are these undead things a whole lot grosser than those Demon things?”

“It’s not just you.” Superman replied, looking back to Lex, “I’ll be back.” He promised,

“I know you will,” Lex said giving him a lingering kiss, “Now kick some ass!” 

Snorting, Clark took back off into the air leaving Flash baulking over the sight of Lex’s mangled leg,  
“Fuck me, are those your bones sticking out, and is your foot backwards?”

Lex sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, he was so taking a very long vacation after all of this was over.

Together Captain Marvel, Superman, Cyborg, and Thor combined their powers into a concentrated beam, ripping through the creatures like a gamma ray burst, scorching the earth and leaving deep crevices going right down through the crust of the planet. 

As soon as the last creature fell, Clark went back to get Lex out of the ship, while the others slowly came together looking around the battle field, taking stock of what had happened.

“What happened?” Steve asked, “Who used the stones?”

He looked to his team, all of whom were equally perplexed. 

“How did you even manage all this?” Sam asked looking at the ruined Kryptonian ship and the Alien planet. 

Steve shook his head, “It was Tony’s idea, he came up with the plan to use the ship to re-forge the stones.” He frowned, “Where is he?” 

The sudden realization that Tony was not present hit everyone and they all began to shout out his name and going to look for him in the debris.

“When did you last hear from him?” 

“In the battle I don’t know.”

“Tony, where are you?”

“Tony answer us!”

“Mr Stark!”

“Stark!”

It was Peter who came upon the Iron Man suit laying on the ground, the gauntlet still attached and laying stretched out before him.

“Mr Stark, Oh thank God, I’m so happy to see you!” Peter cried dropping down besides his beloved mentor, “Mr Stark, it’s okay, we won, we did it!” 

No response. 

“Mr Stark?”, suddenly feeling afraid, Peter reached forward taking Tony’s arm and shook it, turning him onto his back, the suit rolled with a clunk, remaining limp, “Mr Stark!”, fumbling now Peter tapped at the arc reactor, retracting the suit and revealing Tony’s body at which point he let out a wail.

Bruce was across the battle field and besides Peter a moment later, stumbling and dropping to his knees when he saw Tony. Words chocked in his throat and his eyes welled with tears as he reached out with a shaking hand to stroke Tony’s ruined face.

He was deaf to the arrival of the others, everyone coming up, sobs, gasps, and cries of horror as they beheld the sight of Tony’s ravaged form.

The Infinity stones had devoured Tony’s body, burns had turned his right arm to cinder, the gauntlet was all that remained save for black charcoal that had once been flesh and blood. The right side of his face and all down his chest and stomach were livid radiation burns. His right eye was gone, the left was bloody and staring blank at the sky and a thick stream of blood smeared from his nose, mouth, and remaining ear.

No one needed to check for a pulse, or any sign of life, it was clear to see that Tony was dead, had been dead for at least an hour, his blood having dried on his skin and his body cooled.

“He died alone.” Rhodey whispered, ashen faced and trembling, “He was out here alone, saving us all.”

“It was the only way.” Stephen whispered, looking defeated, broken by the knowledge that he’d born since Titan, the price that had to be paid, “He was the only one who could do it, the saviour, and the sacrifice.” 

Bruce heard none of this, none of what any of them were saying, he reached over Tony’s ravaged and broken body, clasping his left hand, lay his head down onto his chest and wept.


	18. Chapter 18

What’s left to say, these prayers ain’t work anymore  
Every word’s shot down in flames.  
What’s left to do with these broken pieces on the floor,  
I’m losing my voice, calling on you.

Cause I’ve been shakin’ I’ve been bending backwards till I’m broke,  
Watchin’ all these dreams go up in smoke.

Let beauty come out of ashes.  
Let beauty come out of ashes,  
And when I pray to God,  
All I ask is,  
Can beauty come out of ashes?

Can you use these tears to put out the fires in my soul.  
Cause I need you here, whoa.

Cause I’ve been shakin’ I’ve been bending backwards till I’m broke,  
Watchin’ all these dreams go up in smoke. 

Let beauty come out of ashes.  
Let beauty come out of ashes.  
And when I pray to God,  
All I ask is,  
Can beauty come out of ashes?

Can beauty come out of ashes?

“We should go.” T’Challa said, clearing his throat and straightening up, “This planet isn’t safe, we should go back to Wakanda,” He looked over to Lex who was cradled in Clark’s arms, sobbing against his chest, “We can offer you the best medical treatment for your leg, Mr Luthor.”

“Fuck my leg.” Lex snarled, taking a hand off Clark’s shoulder to wipe his face, “Fuck everything. Tony wasn’t supposed to die.”

“No one was.” Steve whispered rather numbly, he stared at the broken body of his friend unable to fully process what was happening, what had happened, Tony was gone and no one had been here with him, he’d saved them all and died alone.

“What do we do about the glove thing?” Scott asked gesturing to the gauntlet, “We can’t just leave it.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Thor said stepped forward, but was immediately cut off by Strange, 

“The sorcerers at Kamma Taj are better placed to do so.”

Thor stood up to his full height, “You forget, Wizard, the Asgardians have cared for such artefacts for centuries.”

“As have the Sorcerers at Kamma Taj.” Stephen countered and gave Thor a smug smirk, “And our fortresses are still intact, which is more than can be said for Asgard.” 

Thunder rumbled over head and Thor’s eyes blazed in fury, “You dare?”

“Enough!” Diana shouted, “Enough bickering, we have just ended one fight, do you really want to start another?” She glared at the pair of them making them both look away ashamed. 

“The gauntlet.” Lex said, squirming in Clark’s arms, “That’s it, that’ll do it. Honey put me down,” He said wriggling to get free, 

“Do what?” Clark asked setting Lex down on his one good leg and supported his weight.

“Bring him back.” Lex replied, “The gauntlet brought everyone else back, it can bring Tony back.” He made a lunge towards the gauntlet and would go sprawling face first had it not been for Clark grabbing him about the waist.

“Are you nuts?” Clark cried, 

“It’s the only way,” Lex said struggling against him, 

“Lex I’m not letting you near that thing, you’ve seen what it’s done to Tony,”

“I can heal from anything,” Lex said dismissively, “Now let me do this.”

“No.” This came from Bruce, who had sat up and was holding the gauntlet by the cuff, “If anyone is doing this, it’s going to be me.”

“Jesus Bats.” Arthur whispered, as Diana stepped forward her hands raised, 

“Bruce, stop and think. You can’t do this, no human can use that thing and survive.”

“But maybe someone inhumane can.” This came from Banner who had all eyes turn on him, “Or superhuman,” He shrugged, “That’s giving off a lot of radiation, mostly gamma and I’m a gamma irradiated rage monster so there’s a chance I could survive it.”

“Or me.” Clark said, “I survived a nuke blowing up in my face.” 

“Hell no!” Lex protested, “I just got you back, I’m not risking losing you again.”

“Uh excuse me, people, Gods, Wizards, Aliens and all,” Quill said, stepping forward with his hand up, “I, that is to say, my team and I have prior experience in surviving using an infinity stone. We shared the power between us, I held the stone and we all joined hands so that the power flowed through us all without harming us.”

“This is more than one stone, Quill, it’s all six.” Nebula said.

“But it might work, if all of us join hands and share the power between us.” Quill argued back, looking at everyone, “It’s worth shot isn’t it?”

“No.” 

This unsurprisingly came from Wanda who scowled as several glares were levelled her way, “I’m not risking my life for Stark.”

“Someone want to shut that bitch up before I shove my broken leg down her throat?” Lex asked,

“A pleasure.” Drax said slamming one huge fist into his palm.

“Wait, stop.” Steve said holding up a hand to Drax to keep him from attacking Wanda, “If she doesn’t want to do this, fine, we don’t need her, we have enough people here and I am willing.”

“Steve!” Wanda protested, but was drowned out by Bucky stepping forward,

“Me too, I owe Stark that.”

“And me.” Natasha said.

“I’m in,” Clint agreed.

“As am I.” Thor added,

“We all are.” Arthur stated, getting nods from Victor and Barry,

“We all owe Stark a debt, we should all do this for him.” T’Challa said.

“We should and we will.” Stephen agreed, “Although I think that either Banner or Mr Kent should be the one to wear the Gauntlet and be the first in line, followed by those with super healing abilities and finally humans and non powered beings at the end.”

“Agreed.” Banner said looking to Clark, “So, do you want to do it, or should I?”

******

A large circle stood around Tony’s body with Groot holding the gauntlet up to Banner whose hand was in Clark’s, then Carols, after her was Thor, then Diana, Arthur, Drax, Victor, Nebula, Steve, Bucky, T’Challa, Lex, Barry, Peter, Quill, Mantis, Stephen, Bruce, Sam, Rhodey, Clint, and Natasha, Scott, Hope, and finally Rocket. 

“Everyone just think one thought and only one.” Stephen said, “Heal Tony, just that, heal Tony.”

“Everyone ready?” Banner asked taking a breath, “Okay,” he lowered his hand down into the gauntlet and stiffened, groaning as the immense power surged through his body. It seemed to sear through him light lightning bolts, flowing through him and into Clark and on down the line.

“Do it!” Steve called out,

“Banner now!” Natasha groaned.

Gritting his teeth Banner forced his thumb and fingers together and snapped them…

A blinding light stunned everyone and for a moment there was silence, then a coughing and groaning came from the centre of the circle. 

“What the hell, did anyone kiss me?” 

“Tony!”

“Mr Stark!”

As a freshly healed and looking none the worse for wear Tony sat up he was immediately engulfed by Bruce and Peter who just about leaped on him, hugging him for all they were worth.

“Was I dead?” He asked looking around, “I remember something and… wow that was weird.” 

Clint snorted, “The man dies and he says it’s weird.” 

Tony wasn’t listening though, his attention was on Bruce and Peter, both of whom he pulled into a hug, “God, don’t you two ever do anything like that again, you hear me?” He said, his voice muffled by Bruce’s chest, “And you, Parker, you’re grounded for the rest of your life. I swear I am not letting you out of my sight, from now on you are living in my lab, you sleep there, eat there, wash there, even watch porn there, you are never leaving, you understand me?” 

“I don’t think Aunt May will like that.” Peter mumbled, plastering himself to Tony’s side.

“Neh, she can move in too.” Tony said, “She can help me keep you out of trouble.”

“But I can’t live in the lab forever.”

“Cause you can, I’ve been doing it for years.” Tony scoffed,

“And look at the state of you,” Rhodey snorted, blinking away tears of relief.

“Bite your tongue Platypus.” Tony said, “We super geniuses don’t need anything but our labs, isn’t that right Lex?” His eyes widened when he saw Lex who was once again being held by Clark, “Fuck, your leg!”

“Needs medical attention, now.” Clark said, he looked to T’Challa, “I believe you offered him treatment your Majesty?” 

T'Challa inclined his head, “Of course, Dr Strange, if you would be so kind as to open another portal?” 

“Of course.”

Between them Bruce and Peter helped Tony to his feet, neither letting go of him as he walked forward towards the portal that Strange conjured, “It really worked huh?” He said looking around at everyone, “Everyone’s back?”

“Vision isn’t.” Wanda spat.

“Neither is Gamora.” Nebula said,

“Or Loki.” Thor murmured, “Some warriors can not be revived, but aye Man of Iron, it worked, you saved all those who were snapped away.”

Tony smiled, “And you guys saved me.”

“You really thought we wouldn’t?” Bruce asked,

“I didn’t think anything.” Tony admitted, “All I was thinking was bringing everyone back and then…. It's…” He frowned, “Theres something, I know I was somewhere but I can’t remember it, it’s like it’s at the back of my mind but I can’t access it.”

Clark nodded, “I know the feeling. There is something beyond life but it can’t be recalled beyond a feeling.”

“Perhaps because it defies understanding.” Natasha said with a shrug, “The living mind can’t comprehend it so you don’t recall.”

This did make sense and not even Strange moved to contradict her, “But it was good, right?” Peter asked, “Where you went, it was a good place?”

“I think so.” Tony said, “I don’t recall anything unpleasant, no molten hell fire or creatures with horns and hooves, so I don’t think I went to hell.”

Wanda snorted looking disgusted but was ignored by everyone, “Shall we go?” Strange said gesturing to the portal, “You have the gauntlet, Dr Banner?” 

“I do.” Banner said holding it by it’s cuff, “I guess we should discuss what to do with the stones.”

******

Lex was taken to surgery as soon as they reached the Wakandan palace, where T’Challa ordered guest quarters set up, and arranged for Bruce’s family to be flown in from America, along with Pepper, Happy, Morgan, and Peter’s Aunt May, and Clint’s family.

“You adopted a daughter.” Bruce said, “You actually adopted a daughter.”

“Well, yeah, not formally, but yeah.” Tony said shrugged, “She’s adorable and Dami loves her, you’re gonna love her.”

“I’m sure I will.” Bruce said a little unsure of how he was going to parent a girl, he had experience with boys, emotionally damaged and violent boys, but no experience with girls.

“If we could focus, please?” Stephen called from across the conference room, where they were all gathered, save for Lex who was in theatre. The surgeons were confident that between Wakandan medical care and Lex’s healing abilities that his leg could be saved and that he would be walking again within weeks. 

Clark however was pacing nervously and would likely continue to until Lex was out of theatre and awake. 

“Are you in charge again?” Peter asked pointing to Stephen.

“He was never in charge anyway.” Tony scoffed.

“I suppose you think you are.” Wanda sneered.

“More so than you, honey, and unless you are going to be of use, why don’t you piss off?” Tony shot back.

Wanda’s eyes flashed red and she raised a hand that was promptly clamped down by Diana who glared at her, “Control yourself or face the consequences of your actions, Child.” 

“I am not a child.” 

“Then stop acting like one.” Clint snapped at her.

“You were saying, Dr Strange?” T’Challa asked looking to Stephen.

“Yes. Obviously all the infinity stones cannot remain on earth. The Sorcerers at Kamma Taj have been caring for the time stone for centuries, so we will keep that Stone. Perhaps Wakanda can care for another?”

“You do have the best technology and defences to keep it from being stolen.” Natasha agreed, “The Mind stone perhaps?” 

T'Challa nodded, “I will need to discuss this with my council and the elders, but I will give a tentative yes now.”

“What remains of Asgard can care for the Tesseract.” Thor said, “Which leaves the Soul stone, The Reality Stone, and The Power Stone.”

“We can put the Soul Stone back on Vormir.” Nebula said, “Perhaps it can be exchanged once again for Gamora’s life.” Quill looked up at this, looking hopeful. 

“Perhaps.” Stephen said, 

“The power stone could be put back on Morag.” Carol suggested, “Perhaps with fresh security in place to keep it from being stolen again, and I can think of another planet that the reality stone can be placed on, one where no one will go looking, as it is a volcanic nightmare, even I can only withstand the heat for several minutes.”

“Perfect.” Arthur said, “No one will go looking in that.” 

“So we’re all in agreement then?” Steve asked looking around, he received various nods and murmurs of ascent, “Good, that was easy.”

“Cap, after the last few months, anything is easy.” Clint snorted, “And I don’t know about anyone else but I’m starving, I need a pizza.”

“Hot dogs.” Scott said, “Or tacos.”

“Burritos?” Peter inquired.

“I think I can organize us some refreshment.” T’Challa said with a wry smile, knowing very well that a large feast was already being prepared to celebrate the victory.

“How about you, Tones?” Rhodey asked, “You want something?”

“Cheese burgers.” Tony said with a grin, “Double cheese burgers with extra large fries.”


	19. Chapter 19

“You know it’s always tempting to write on his head when he’s asleep.” 

This was what Lex heard as he came around from the anaesthetic. His head felt light and heavy at the same time, as if it had been stuffed with cotton and lead, making it too heavy to move, but so light that it might float off his shoulders. 

His entire body was similarly afflicted, with only a dull ache in his leg reminding him that it had been injured. 

Well an ache was much better than an agonising throb. 

“Do you think he’d mind if I drew a pattern over his scalp? He’d look good with a celtic design, or maybe something tribal.”

“I really don’t think he’d appreciate it.”

“Wudn’t.” Lex mumbled, his tongue was heavy and his lips numb making it hard to speak. He blinked open his eyes and saw Clark, Tony, and Bruce at his bedside. Tony had a marker pen in his hand which he had been using to draw all over the cast that was covering Lex’s leg from foot to hip keeping immobilized. 

“Hey sweetheart, how are you feeling?” Clark asked, while Bruce rose, saying he’d get the doctor. 

“No drawnin on head.” Lex mumbled sleepily, making Tony snort in amusement and Clark chuckle.

“I’ll protect your head, I promise.” Clark said kissing Lex’s smooth scalp.

“M’kay,” Lex breathed contentedly, then frowned, “Where ‘m’I?” 

“Wakanda medical centre.” Tony said, “You were in surgery for three hours, which is incredible considering the damage to your leg. But they’ve fixed it, got all the bones back into alignment and the surgeon believes you’ll only be in the cast for a couple of weeks.”

“Really?” Lex looked down at the limb, frowning at the rude pictures that had been scrawled over the cast. He’d expected to be unable to walk for months, hell, he’d thought he’d loose the leg it had been that badly injured, but apparently Wakandan Doctors could work miracles. 

“Ah, Mr Luthor.” A tall and very slender man in a white lab coat approached the bed with Bruce in tow, “It’s good to see you awake, how are you feeling?” 

“Cotton woolly.” Lex replied, not able to think of another way to describe how he felt. 

“That’ll be the pain killers.” The Doctor said, taking Lex’s wrist to check his pulse. He went through a serious of checks before smiling, apparently satisfied with Lex’s condition and allowing Clark to give Lex water to drink through a straw. 

“How long will I be in the cast?” Lex asked, gaining a little more control of his mouth.

“If your current level of healing continues then only six weeks.” The Doctor replied, “We will monitor the situation and if possible have you in a walking boot before then, but for now you need to remain off the limb and let the bones settle.”

“In bed?” Lex asked, not thrilled by the prospect. He wouldn’t mind if it was his and Clark’s bed and he was able to do more than just lay there, but as it was, he was going to be bored out of his mind.

“For now yes.” The Doctor said, “Then we’ll see about a wheelchair and crutches.”

Clark squeezed Lex’s hand, “You need to rest sweetheart, you were badly hurt.” 

“I’d rather rest with you in our bed.” Lex said, smirk at the flush that rose up over Clark’s cheeks. 

“You’ll be doing something other than resting then.” Tony snorted, leaning back into Bruce’s embrace, glancing up when one of the palace staff came in. 

“Forgive the intrusions, but his Majesty would like you informed that your family has arrived.”

*****

Clint broke down into tears as he greeted his children and wife. The months without them had been like a wound to his soul, had it not been for the Avenger’s he would have lost his mind in his grief, gone on and on in finding criminals to kill until finally he picked the wrong fight and got himself killed and put out of his misery. 

He was unable to speak, his throat was too chocked up with tears but words were not needed, Laura could read all that needed to be said in his eyes and by the emotion on his face, and she pulled him in close, wiping away the tears spilling down his cheeks as their children clung to his arms and chest. 

Damian had Morgan by the hand as they were taken through the palace to the guest quarters, she was nervous, looking around with wide uncertain eyes at the unfamiliar place and unfamiliar people, however she lost all uncertainty when Tony came into view and she let go of Damian’s hand charging forward with a shriek of Tony’s name. 

Tony bent down to Morgan’s level and scooped her up into his arms kissing her cheeks and grinning as she hugged him. 

Damian paused uncertainly as he saw Bruce, his Father at Tony’s side, wishing he could run into his arms like Morgan had with Tony, but he couldn’t do so, he wasn’t that young and he wasn’t that kind of person. So instead he approached Bruce at a sedate pace and held out a hand for his Father to shake. 

“Damian.” Bruce said starting to extend a hand then startling Damian, he wrapped his arms about him, pulling him into an embrace. Damian stiffened, not responding at first, then slowly wrapped his arms about his Father returning the hug.

“I am so proud of you.” Bruce said squeezing Damian, “You have been so strong and so mature, I could not be prouder of you.” He held Damian back slightly, “Or love you more.”

Damian swallowed hard and sniffed, feeling tears prickling at his eyes, “I love you too, Father.” He whispered and was pulled into another embrace. 

“The Kid’s done incredibly well.” Dick said over Damian’s shoulder, “It looks like everything went to hell but he kept it together.”

“He really did.” Tony said making Damian look up at him, he now had Morgan on his hip, and she was looking around curiously. She’d met Alfred, Dick, Jason, and Tim on the flight over, along with Happy and already knew Pepper, but Bruce was a new person to her she had yet to be introduced to. 

“Morgan,” He said stepping away from Bruce, “This is my Father, Bruce Wayne. Father, this is Morgan, my little sister.”

“Little sister?” Jason murmured.

Bruce however ignored him as he turned his attention to Morgan and smiled to her, “Hello Morgan, I’m very pleased to meet you. Tony says you’re a little genius in the making and that Dami’s been showing you how to use his swords.”

“He says they chop heads off.” Morgan said, “Daddy says I’m too young t’be a superhero, but when I grow’d up I’m gonna be a superhero like him.”

Tony chocked up a little at being called Daddy but Bruce smiled wider, “I’m sure you are, especially with Dami as your big brother.”

Morgan frowned, “You’re his Daddy, so are you my Daddy now too?” 

It was such an innocent question and so simple to a three year old who didn’t realize the implications for adults. Bruce looked to Tony, who seemed too tongue-tied to speak at the moment.

“I would like to be.” He said diplomatically and leaned forward as if he were sharing a secret with Morgan, “I love your Daddy very much, he is a very special person and I want him to be happy.”

“Me too.” Morgan agreed. 

“So, would you like us to be family, all of us, you, me, Tony, Damian, Alfred, Jason, Dick, and Tim?” 

“Uncle Lex and Auntie Pepper too?” Morgan asked, making Tony chuckle,

“Them too.”

“Then yes, I want you to be my Daddy too.” Morgan stretched out her arms to Bruce who easily took her into his arms, supporting her slight weight against his chest. “If you Daddy and Tony’s Daddy…” Morgan trailed off frowning.

“You could call him Daddy Bruce.” Tim suggested.

“Or Father like I do.” Damian offered.

“Or maybe Papa?” Tony said, looking to Bruce for his confirmation, Bruce nodded and smiled at Morgan.

“Papa?” He asked and she nodded, beaming brightly at him and wrapped her arms about his neck snuggling against him.

“Looks like you’ve finally got a Granddaughter, Alfie.” Dick teased.

“Grampa Alfred does have a nice ring to it.” Bruce mused smirking at a rather bewildered Alfred as Morgan lifted her head to look at him with new interest.

“Are you my Grampa?” She asked.

“I… well yes, yes I am, little one.” Alfred stammered a little taken aback, but the beaming smile on Morgan’s face soon calmed any nerves he might have and Jason cleared his throat, 

“As nice as it is to be doing family greetings in a corridor, do you think we could go somewhere more comfortable?”

******

Wanda was seething. 

She watched as Clint greeted his family, Natasha joining them and being welcomed as an aunt by the kids, and a sister by Laura.

She watched with brimming hatred as Stark of all people was enveloped by the Wayne family, with Potts and Hogan hugging him and Rhodes, acting like one big happy family. The orphaned girl clinging to Stark’s side or Wayne’s side, telling anyone and everyone that they were her Daddy and Papa, as if this was something to be happy about. 

It seemed everyone was happy and contented, the Guardians, as odd a bunch as they were complete with a sentient Tree and a talking Raccoon amongst their ranks, were thick as thieves, making preparations to take the Soul stone back to the planet it had been taken from, hoping to get their fallen comrade back, or if not, to pay their respects to her memory. 

Sam had several video calls with his Mother and arranged to fly home to see her. The old lady had been turned ash so had not had to suffer his loss and was thankfully non the worse for wear. 

Scott went back to the states with Hope, keen to see his daughter Cassie again and a newly returned Hank Pym. 

Steve spent his time with Bucky, the former Winter Soldier showing him where he’d been living in Wakanda, the goat herd he’d taken to caring for and the small farm he had for himself. 

Strange split his time between the Sanctum and Wakanda, aiding the engineers in forming a secure place for the mind stone. 

Diana returned to Paris to see those she knew who also been returned, Victor went back to his Father, taking Barry with him so that Barry could visit his Father who was apparently in prison and had been dusted. 

Arthur went back to Atlantis to see how his people were faring, as did Thor, going to New Asgard with the Tesseract to see that it was also properly stored away. 

T’challa reunited with his Mother and Sister, through his weight into aiding the world recover from the snap, along with Bruce Wayne, Lex Luthor from his hospital bed, where Clark remained on a vigil, Pepper Potts, and Stark. 

Everyone had a place and a purpose it seemed, a family who welcomed and loved them, even if they didn’t deserve it, which Stark certainly did not.

Everyone but Wanda.

Clint’s family feared her, his wife not wanting her around the children. Luthor was openly hostile to her, Wayne contemptuous, and his Son all but murderous. 

No one wanted her around, Natasha was too busy with Clint and his family, or helping the relief efforts, Steve was off with Bucky, Sam was in America, and Vision was dead. 

There was nothing for Wanda and it was so unfair. Why did she constantly have to lose everything, why couldn’t she get everything she wanted the way Stark always did? 

Well maybe there was a way. Carol Danvers was helping with the recovery efforts and had not yet left with the reality stone or the power stone, both of which Wanda could use to get what she wanted. 

She waited until late at night when the palace was quiet to slip down to the labs where the stone were being stored in a vault. It was easy to use her magic to shut off the security systems and distract anyone who was wandering the halls. 

She didn’t know how to bypass the vault’s systems so she simply tore the vault apart with her powers to get inside, where the stones lay shimmering and beckoning to her like beacons. 

Smiling, Wanda entered the vault and reached out, taking the Reality Stone and the Power Stone into her hands…


	20. Chapter 20

Of course Peter was over joyed to see his Aunt again. She had been dusted and had thankfully not suffered through months of his loss, but she had seen the images of Spiderman being taken away in the donut ship and was more than relieved to have him safely in her arms again. 

This did have the unfortunate side effect of her not wanting to let him out of her sight, so Peter couldn’t go and greet Tim how he wanted, and as he was sharing a room with May he couldn’t have Tim there, not if they wanted any privacy, which they did. 

Tim was in a similar state as he was sharing with Jason and Dick, who would tease him mercilessly, as only older Brothers could do. Damian would have joined in, but he was sharing with Morgan, whom he’d become very attached to, and she adored him, having completely adopted him as her big brother.

So, they both waited until everyone was asleep before they snuck out of their rooms to meet up in the corridors when the palace was quiet.

“Timmy.”

“Pete.” 

They fell on each other in a tangle of limbs, kissing messily, their lips smushing together with little grace, neither knowing exactly how much pressure to use or how to move. This was all so new to them that they were still learning what to do. 

“Are you okay?” Tim asked, when they broke apart, breathless and mouths swollen.

“Better now for seeing you.” Peter purred or tried to purr. He’d heard Tony purr like that to Bruce, speaking in a husky voice and gave sultry looks from under his lashes complete with coy smiles that seemed to speak volumes without uttering a word.

Peter didn’t know how to do that, he couldn’t flirt, he always became tongue tied and started to babble like a total dork, honestly, he’d give up his Spider enhancements to be able to be as suave as Tony and Bruce were. 

Fortunately Tim was much the same, at the gangly limbed, still growing, and clumsy stage of his development, and while he didn’t get as tongue tied as Peter, he was no more experienced than Peter and didn’t think the less of him for his fumbling efforts. 

“I saw the ship.” Tim said, “You and Tony going up into Space. Bruce wasn’t home, he was finding Aquaman, and there was nothing I could do and I was so scared that I would never see you again.”

Peter’s eyes widened and he clutched Tim tighter, “I would have done anything to get back to you.” 

Tim nodded, “I know, and you did, everything worked out in the end.” He took a deep breath, “But all that’s happened, half of the universe getting wiped out, has made me realize how precious our time together is and I don’t want to waste a second more.”

Peter frowned not fully understanding what Tim was talking about, however that was made clear when Tim pulled a couple of condoms and a tube of lube from his pyjama pockets.

“I swiped them from Jason’s bag when he wasn’t looking!” Tim admitted, blushing and giggling, “I don’t wanna rush you if you’re not ready, but I’m ready, I want to… be with you, have sex with you, if you do too.”

“Yeah, I do.” Peter stammered, feeling the heat rising in his cheeks, “If you’re sure.” He shifted uncomfortably as his cheeks were not the only place heat was traveling too!

Giggling Tim leaned forward kissing him again, then took his hand, pulling him through the corridors, “There has to be an empty room somewhere.”

“We need a bed, or at least a sofa.” Peter said, hardly able to believe that he was actually going to be having sex!

“We could do it against a wall, I’ve seen it on TV shows.” Tim replied, “Or in the shower!” 

A giggle escaped Peter’s lips and he tugged on Tim’s hand, pulling him in for another kiss, “If a wall is all we need, why don’t we do it right here?” He asked flushing crimson at the thought. 

“Are there cameras, I don’t want this being filmed.” Tim said looking about for cameras only to see a flash of red which caught Peter’s attention too. “What the hell?” Tim asked,

“Maximoff.” Peter said, putting himself in front of Tim, “That’s her power.” 

“What is she doing?” Tim hissed 

“I don’t know, but I want to find out.” 

Quietly the two of them went down the corridors, following after Wanda, who was making her way down to Shuri’s lab where the infinity stones were being stored. 

“I don’t like this.” Tim whispered into Peter’s ear,

“Me neither.” Peter murmured. The two of them flinching as Wanda used her magic to break through the doors to the lab, “Go and get Tony.” Peter said to Tim, “Get Clark, fuck, get everyone!”

“I’m not leaving you…”

“We can’t handle the psycho bitch alone.” Peter said pushing at Tim, “I’m only going to keep an eye on her until you get back.” Tim looked unhappy, but grit his teeth and nodded before turning on his heel and hurrying away. 

Peter ventured a little further to the lab, wanting to see what Wanda was doing, he knew it couldn’t be anything good, she had no good reason for being here, and the fact the infinity stones were ensconced within the lab vault worried him deeply.

*****

Tim wasted no time in fetching help. He tore straight through the palace to Bruce and Tony’s chambers, throwing open the door and bursting inside. 

“You’ve got to come it’s an emergency!” He stopped dead with his eyes going wide when he saw the position he had caught Bruce and Tony in. 

Both were completely naked, with Tony on his hands and knees and Bruce thrusting into him doggy style. 

“OHMYGOD!” Tim cried, turning his back and closing his eyes tight.

“Tim!” Tony shrieked.

“Can’t you knock?” Bruce cried.

“Sorry, didn’t want to see that, not ever. I want to die now. But you have to come… no not that… I mean, we need you, it’s an emergency, the witch has gone wacko!” With that Tim tore off out of the room, shouting at the top of his lungs and banging on doors as he went.

“Did any of that make sense to you?” Bruce asked Tony,

“Only the part about the Witch.” Tony said scrambling off the bed and grabbing for the first item of clothing he could find, “If Maximoff is up to something it can’t be good.”

Within seven minutes Tim had every Avenger and Justice League member who was still in Wakanda awake and on their way down to the lab where Peter was waiting for them. 

“What’s happening?” Steve asked, he was rather a comical sight in his pyjamas carrying his shield, in fact the entire group were a mishmash of sleep wear and weapons, even T’Challa and Okoye.

“I don’t know, she’s using her powers but I’m not sure what she’s doing.” Peter said, 

“Then lets find out.” Natasha snapped, unhappy at having her sleep disturbed. At that moment a brilliant flash of light exploded in the lab, shattering the glass doors and windows, sending equipment flying across the lab and smashing into the opposite wall.

The two teams rushed into the lab, Steve, Tony, Bruce, and Natasha leading the way, they fell back as they came upon Wanda standing just inside the vault, two of the infinity stones clutched in her hands.

“Dear God!” Bruce cried raising an arm to shield his eyes from the blinding light.

“Wanda, put them down!” Steve shouted above the roar of energy surging in the lab.

“No!” Wanda screamed, her voice broken and distorted, “They are mine!” 

Her body shuddered as the energy surged through her, purple and red flowing up her arms, scorching her flesh, searing her from the inside as it pulsed through her body. 

“Wanda they’re killing you!” Natasha yelled, watching in horror as veins ruptured on Wanda’s skin, her flesh bubbling and blistering, in places her bones becoming visible. 

“I will take what I want.” Wanda screamed, closing her blood red eyes and concentrated, letting loose her own power and sending it into the stones.

A sound like a sonic boom deafened everyone, and all the air seemed to rush forwards, getting sucked up in a vacuum towards Wanda whose entire being became engulfed in blinding brilliant light, for a moment everything went still and silent, then everyone was flung back as the energy exploded. 

*****

Clark was the first one on his feet, shoving the remains of the lab wall off himself and sitting up, his eyes searching out everyone else and swiftly moved to help get them free from the rubble that the lab had become. 

“Fuck my head!” Clint moaned, his forehead crimson from a deep gnash across his hairline where he must have been hit by glass. 

“Stay still, you’ll be alright.” Clark said patting his shoulder as he looked around, Steve was on his feet, along with Natasha who was clutching an arm that was clearly broken. From beneath a pile of rubble Sam came too with a cry of pain, his leg obviously broken. 

“Tony?” Bruce called out, shoving debris off himself and wincing, one of his shoulders dislocated. 

“Oww!” Tony complained, “Whoever the hell is on top of me, get the hell off, you’re heavy!” 

“Sorry about that.” Bucky replied with an amused chuckle, “If it’s any consolation you make a soft landing.”

“Asshole, it isn’t.” 

“I’m alive, I’m good!” Peter cried, hurrying to help Tim to his feet, Dick and Jason were not far away and seemed to only have cuts and bruises. T’Challa was clutching his side, probably sporting broken ribs and Okoye had a blackening eye swelling shut. 

“Is everyone alright?” Clark asked looking around, making a mental count of everyone, including Tony and Bucky when they were helped out of the rubble, Tony grumbling about two ton super soldiers sprawling on him and Bucky smirking and saying that Tony’s backside was a very soft pillow to land on! 

“Where’s the Scarlet Psycho?” Rocket asked looking about.

“Umm, there.” Quill said pointing to a chuck of smouldering flesh, “And there,” He pointed to the ceiling that was splattering in blood and gore, “Possible there too.” He pointed to another pile of flesh. 

“Eeewww, damn man, that’s fucking gross.” Jason groaned.

“She exploded?” Steve asked sounding incredulous, but as the dust cleared it became increasingly clear to see the splatters of blood, chunks of bone, burnt flesh, and smears of organic matter splattered about the lab. 

“Oh fuck!” Peter cried, doubling over with a hand clasped over his mouth as he caught sight of what looked to be part of a brain.

“Go out.” Tony instructed him, “Get some air, you don’t have to see this.”

Wrapping an arm about Peter’s shoulders, Tim guided the queasy Spiderman out of the lab, just as a portal opened and Stephen appeared, “What in the name of the Vishanti happened?” he asked looking around at the destruction.

“Maximoff happened.” Tony said, “She tired to use the Power Stone and the Reality Stone, whatever she did it destroyed her.”

Stephen shook his head looking at the stones still laying on the floor of the vault that was blackened with scorch marks. 

“I felt the power, all the sorcerer’s did. But I never thought anyone would be so foolish as to attempt to master the power of two infinity stones.” 

“What was she hoping to achieve?” Steve asked in confusion, “Did she want to use them to bring Vision back?” 

“Maybe.” Natasha murmured nursing her broken arm, “We’ll never know, we can just be thankful that no one else got hurt.”

For several minutes everyone fell silent looking around at the damage to the lab and the remains of Wanda before T’Challa spoke up. 

“We should all leave, I want to structure inspected and secured.” The young King said, “And many of us need medical attention, I suggested we go to the hospital.” 

No one argued with his advice, but before they left Strange supervised the stones being carefully placed back in the vault. Clark moved them, using two shards of metal to lift them so he never came in contact with them. Strange then sealed the vault with magic to prevent them from being used again. 

“This wasn’t your fault, Steve.” Natasha said, once they were in the hospital and her arm in a cast and sling. “Wanda chose to do this, she made the choice herself, don’t blame yourself for her idiocy.”

“I know.” Steve said with a heavy sigh, “I just wish we could have stopped her before she went too far. I wish we could have saved her from herself.”


	21. Chapter 21

No one could go back to sleep after Wanda’s explosion, everyone was too awake, and even though they had tried to prevent it from disturbing Morgan, she was up and in Alfred’s arms desperate to see Tony and be sure that he was alright. 

Alfred brought her into Lex’s hospital room, where Tony and Bruce had gone to check on their friend, on the plus side, aside from Natasha’s broken arm, Sam’s broken leg, and several dislocated joints, cracked ribs, and a whole lot of cuts and bruising they had all faired pretty well considering the force that had come from the stones with the explosion of power.

“So no more Bitch?” Morgan asked innocently as she sat on Tony’s hip having gone to him the moment she’d seen him. 

“I think you mean witch, Morgoona.” Tony corrected, “That’s a naughty word, it’s one you’re not allowed to use until you are much bigger.”

“Nuh uh.” Morgan shook her head vehemently and pouted adorably, “Dami said it, he said Scarlet Bitch is dead!”

Tony glared at Bruce, “I blame you for his bad language.”

“I blame his Mother.” Bruce said with a shrug, “And spending too much time about Jason and his lack of brain to mouth filter.” 

“You mean his brain is actually active at all?” Lex asked, “I thought he did all his thinking with his..,”

“Nothing that needs repeating in front of the midget here.” Tony said cutting Lex off.

“Not a midget.” Morgan pouted.

“Yes you are, you’re a midget until I say your not a midget.” 

“Am not!” Morgan yawned and blinked sleepy eyes at Tony, “Want juice pop.” She declared sleepily. 

“Not at this hour, that much sugar and you’ll be bouncing off the walls all night.” Tony said, “We’ll have to use a net to catch you and tie you down with weights to keep you still.” 

“Won’t.” Morgan yawned again, her head lolling onto Tony’s shoulder and her eyelids closing even as she tried to stay awake.

“I think someone needs to go to bed.” Alfred making to take Morgan but Lex intervened, 

“Let her stay with me.” He said shifting over as much as he could, “She can sleep here for the night.”

“You sure you don’t mind?” Tony asked,

“No, she’ll be fine.” Lex said, pulling back the covers so Tony could get Morgan tucked in. 

“Everything alright?” Clark asked coming back from helping T’Challa’s engineers start to check the structural integrity of the lab and surrounding building with his x-ray vision.

“Fine.” Bruce replied a fond smile on his face as he watched Tony kiss Morgan goodnight.

“He’s good with her isn’t he?” Clark said.

“Brilliant.” Bruce agreed,

“She is so adorable.” Lex said as Morgan burrowed down into the blankets, falling asleep almost immediately, “Clark? I want one!”

Clark’s eyes widened and he gaped at Lex, “Uh… we don’t have the body parts for that honey.”

“I think he means adoption, genius.” Bruce snorted, “Or surrogacy I guess,” He cringed, “Actually no, just go with adoption, the world doesn’t need a Lex mark two running around.”

“Screw you, Wayne.” Lex shot back giving him the finger, “Any child I have will be a super genius, handsome, and perfect.”

“Perfectly terrifying you mean.” Tony said, “Your spawn will take over the world and enslave the planet!” 

Lex shrugged, “There are worse ambitions!”

*****

“I still don’t know what’s worse, seeing Wanda in pieces or Tony and Bruce doing it!” Tim whined, he was sat slumped at the edge of the table he was sat at with his brothers and Peter, stirring his hot chocolate unhappily. Damian gave him an unimpressed look, because naturally he wasn’t at all bothered by body parts.

“Tony and Bruce doing it, definitely.” Dick said, “I was treated to the sight of B with once of his conquests when I was a kid, I was scarred for life I swear!”

“The bat’s wrinkled old ass certainly isn’t a sight I want to see.” Jason snorted not hearing his Father coming up behind him until it was too late and was given a clip around the ear for his impertinence.

“How you are feeling now, Pete?” Tony asked his protégé.

“Alright I guess.” Peter said, he was still pale and a little shaky. The sight of someone’s brain was not easy to deal with even for a superhero. May rubbed his back.

“You need to take time away from all of this.” She said, “You need to focus on being a boy again and take a complete break from this Spiderman business.”

“No,” Peter protested, 

“She’s right Pete, you need a rest, hell you deserve a rest.” Tony said, “You need to take some time out and just be yourself, spend time with Ned and MJ, go on date’s with Tim to the movies or a milkshake café, or whatever it is teen’s do these days, just relax and enjoy being yourself.”

“Yeah, and buy your own damn lube and condoms while you’re at it.” This came from Jason who had discovered the theft and did not have to look very far for the culprit, especially since Tim and Peter had been sneaking about the halls at night alone.

Peter’s face turned crimson and he looked like he might suffer an embolism while Tim glared with murderous hatred at Jason. 

“Peter!” May choked out clamping a hand over her throat,

“May no, I’m sorry, I… it wasn’t planned, we just we… Mr Stark I… don’t, I didn’t mean, I mean I…”

“Save it kid.” Tony said, “I’m too old to deal with this shit and you’re both over sixteen, at least you were using protection.”

Peter meeped and buried his face looking like he might die of embarrassment. 

“I hate you so much.” Tim snarled at Jason who just leered back at him. 

“Settle down.” Bruce said to him, patting his shoulder, as he set down two cups of coffee, one for himself and one for Tony. 

“Where’s Morgan?” Damian demanded, looking like he suspected Bruce and Tony of selling her the gypsies or something.

“Asleep in Lex’s bed for the night.” Alfred replied, “And you should be getting to bed, Master Damian, it is well past your bed time.”

“I’m not a kid.” Damian snarled, “And I’m not tired.” He grumbled something in Arabic and went back to drinking his Hot chocolate, his eyes narrowing only when he saw Natasha and Bucky bringing Steve into the cafeteria and sitting him down at a table. 

The Captain looked ashen and seemed to be shaking. 

“What the fuck’s up with him?” Jason asked as tactless as ever and dodged the slap about the back of his head from Alfred.

“I’m going to see if he’s alright.” Tony said, making his way over to the table. “What’s up Cap?” He asked sitting down in front of Steve, Natasha rolled her eyes at his approach and grabbed Bucky to help her get some hot drinks since she only had use of one of her arms. 

“It’s my fault isn’t it?” Steve said, looking up at Tony, “Wanda… her losing control like that. I should have been there for her, I knew she was struggling with her grief over Vision and I just left her to cope on her own, I should have been there, made sure she was alright.” 

“Steve, what..?”

“But I’m never there, am I?” Steve said cutting Tony off, “Not when it matters, and even when I am I fuck everything up. I didn’t save Bucky, I didn’t tell you about Howard and Maria, I let everything blow up with the accords, I wasn’t in New York when you needed me, and I wasn’t even at your side when you…,” He broke off unable to get the word out and ducked his head, “Everything I do is wrong, no matter what I can’t seem to get it right, not by you, not by Wanda, not by anyone. Erskine was wrong, I shouldn’t have been Captain America, I’m not worthy of it I don’t deserve it…”

“Enough Roger’s!” Tony’s shout was enough to stop Steve’s rant and he gazed up at Tony sadly, looking like a dog whose angered it’s owner and doesn’t know how to make amends. 

“This isn’t your fault Steve.” Tony said, “Wanda was a grown woman who made her own choices, you are not to blame for her actions. Bucky falling from that train wasn’t your fault either, that was Skull’s fault, or his mad scientist Zola’s fault. He doesn’t blame you for that, no one does. As for not getting things right, well, who the fuck does?” 

“You do.” Steve said. Tony’s expression softened and he reached out, taking one of Steve’s hands. 

“We both know that is a pile of shit, I fuck up, hell I’m the king of the fuck up, ask Pepper, as her about the giant bunny I got her for Christmas, and do you remember when I gave out my address to the Mandarin?” Steve snorted and nodded his head, he’d hardly forget that in a hurry.

“So, we’re both fuck ups.” Tony said shrugging, “And we’re not alone,” sticking his finger and thumb between his lips he whistled, “Hey Bruce, wanna come and tell Steve about your monumental fuck ups? We’re sharing stories, you can tell him about your near death match with Clark.”

“I’d rather not.” Bruce said acidly, “But if you are sharing fuck up stories, why don’t you tell him about the time you thought it would be a good idea to give yourself a tongue piercing with a nail gun?” 

Tony’s eyes went wide, “Traitor!” He cried dramatically, “I am wounded by this loss of trust, mortally wounded. Pete, web Bruce, avenge me!”

“Really?” Peter sounded far too eager to do this.

“I’ll help.” Damian offered.

“No webbing, and Tony, anyone who looks up your nineties activities can learn about the tongue incident.” Rhodey said as he came into the cafeteria with Pepper and Happy. 

“How’s Sam?” Natasha asked, holding her drink while Bucky had his and Steve’s.

“Going to be fine. They are keeping him in over night but it’s just a precaution.” Rhodey replied, “Clint’s staying with him just to keep him company.” He rolled his eyes, “They’re looking up dirty limericks on he internet to teach Thor the next time he visits from New Asgard.”

“God help us.” Tony groaned remembering Thor’s unhealthy love of dick jokes that had gone on for far too long. 

“You feeling better now Punk?” Bucky asked as he set a drink before Steve and sat down at the table, “Tongue piercing Stark?” 

“Shove your metal hand up your ass.” Tony replied.

“He nearly bled to death.” Natasha said as joined them, “He went right through the artery with the nail. The Doctors had to cauterize the hole and he was lucky he didn’t lose his tongue, which would have been a blessing for the rest of the world.”

Tony glared at her, “This is why everyone thinks you’re a vicious bitch.” Natasha smiled darkly,

“I am.”

“Thank you, guys.” Steve said with wry smile, the joking around having helped lift his mood somewhat.

“You know,” Tony said, “You could always take a break from being Captain America for a while.” He suggested, “We have just literally been through hell, I think you deserve a chance to rest after all that.”

“The weight of the world doesn’t have to rest on your shoulders, Stevie.” Bucky agreed, “Some time out might do you good. You can kick back, clear your head.” He grinned, “We can hit a few bars, find some sweet dame’s with loose morals and looser knickers…,” He yelped as Natasha’s boot hit his shin beneath the table, “Woman you are a danger to be around.” He complained reaching down to rub his shin. 

“I don’t think I’m up for the bar’s part.” Steve said laughing, “But a holiday would be nice.”

“You’re welcome to stay with me, so long as you help with the goats.” Bucky said.

“The goats hate me.” Steve dead panned, “One of the tried to eat my pants!”

Natasha chuckled quietly while Tony snorted loudly, “That doesn’t mean it hates you, Cap, that means it really likes you and wants to get to know you much better!” Sadly Bucky had been taking a drink at this point and ending up spraying Natasha in hot chocolate that he spat out.

“Uh.. sorry?” He offered turning pale at the glare on the Black Widow’s face.

“You will be.” She hissed and by the time she was halfway out of her seat Bucky had torn off at a dead sprint. “I’ve still go it.” She said settling back down and wiping her face nonchalantly with her sleeve. 

“I should get after him.” Steve said getting to his feet, “Thank’s for the talk and everything.” 

“No probs Cap.” Tony said giving him a mock salute, he waited until Steve was halfway across the cafeteria before he yelled out, “Don’t forget to wear a cock shield around the goats!” This of course had the effect of everyone in the cafeteria turning and staring at Steve, who straightened up, raised his hands above his head and gave Tony the finger twice, then continued on his way holding onto what remained of his dignity.

“Goats?” Bruce asked as he came over to Tony and Natasha’s table.

“They like him.” Tony said getting to his feet, “Wanna take me to bed and finish what we started before Tim interrupted us?” 

“I thought you’d never ask.”


	22. Chapter 22

Thanks to his accelerated healing Lex was out of the hospital bed and in a walking boot within two weeks, and had the cast removed a month later with the leg fully healed save for a very slight limp that he could easily live with. He might have ankle problems later in life but that was something he could look into decades in the future. 

The guardians took their leave of earth, heading back out into space with the Soul Stone to place back on Vormir. They were all hoping that they could exchange it for Gamora but there was no guarantee and they could at least say goodbye to her properly. 

Tony helped the Wakandan’s repair the lab and the vault, which Stephen enchanted to guard the Mind Stone which was sealed away inside a vibranium case that was then further sealed in lead and placed inside a biometric locked safe inside the vault. 

“It will take a lot for anyone to remove that from there.” Stephen said as he finished placing the magical wards upon the safe, “It’s unlikely that it’ll ever be stolen.”

T’Challa straightened, “And whomever tries will have to get past my guards, gain my hand-print and retinal scan to do so.” 

Carol left shortly after this, taking the Power Stone, and the Reality Stone back to Morag, and the planet she had spoken of. She promised to try and make regular trips back to earth and keep in touch with everyone before she left. 

Clint went with his family back to their farm, Natasha going with him, arranging to meet at the Avengers Compound in a few weeks. 

Steve opted to stay in Wakanda with Bucky for a while, having apparently made peace with the goats and was getting on well enough with them. 

Lex and Clark returned to Metropolis, while May took Peter back to New York, Rhodey, Happy and Pepper going with them, while Tony went with Bruce, Morgan, Alfred, and the boys back to Gotham.

As soon as they were back in the US, Tony and Bruce began the adoption proceedings to make Morgan officially their daughter, although, given the circumstances, the paper work was just a formality, the social workers who did come out for interviews could see that Morgan was well settled with them and very attached to Tony, it would have taken someone completely heartless to separate them. 

Peter followed Tony and May’s advice and refrained from resuming his Spiderman activities right away, taking a full month off to just enjoy being himself rather than a vigilante. He went out to the movies with Ned and MJ, went for Mcdonalds, pizza, stayed up all night building Lego with Ned, and just did normal teenage stuff. 

Naturally, part of this normal teenage stuff was to go on dates with Tim, which was how he turned up in Gotham wearing his best suit and holding a bunch of flowers (Because gentlemen bring flowers, Peter) Aunt May insisted, and was shown into the manor, his cheeks like tomatoes, by Alfred who was the only one who didn’t give him shit over the date. 

Tim was suffering the teasing of his elder Brothers, to whom he declared hatred, his own cheeks growing hot when they began to wolf whistle on seeing Peter. 

“Ignore them, they’re assholes.” Tim said, taking the flowers and sniffing them, “These are beautiful, thank you.” He was wearing after shave, borrowed from Bruce, and was wearing a suit that probably cost as much as a car, since Bruce thought nothing of buying s growing teenager Gucci and Armani. 

“Now do remember that you have to be home by eleven.” Dick teased, “And Timmy, just because he’s bought you flowers doesn’t mean you have to put out!”

“Fuck off and die, Dickless.” Tim snarled,

“And if you do it on the back seat, remember Alfred is driving you to the restaurant and will hear everything.” Jason offered up from the couch where he was working his way through a packet of cookies and a jar of peanut butter.

“That’s enough the pair of you.” Bruce scolded, coming into the living room, he looked Peter over approvingly, “Very smart, Mr Parker, Very handsome.” 

“Thank you, Sir.” Peter whispered, looking up startled as there came a crashing noise and the sound of yelling.

“S’Okay, Morgan and Damian are having a war with suction cup darts.” Jason said nonchalantly, “Tony made them for them and they’ve been engaged in world war three for the last two days.”

“Run!” Damian’s voice echoed down the hall along with Morgan’s giggling.

“Come back here you little brats!” Tony yelled out after them.

“Tony also made spare guns and they’ve got him playing too.” Dick added rolling his eyes. 

Suddenly Damian with Morgan on his back in a piggyback, ran into the living room and dove down behind the couch with Tony hot on his heels, a dart sticking to his forehead and a gun clutching in his hand.

“Where are they?” He demanded, “Mutinous pair of munchkins, they’ve rebelled against the sacred Stark State of Science and must be put to a painful end!” Of course Morgan’s laughter gave away her and Damian’s hiding place, but Tony played along, pretending not to know where they were and let the little girl surprise him and get another shot off at him, to which he performed a dramatic death that ended up with him laying on the floor with his tongue hanging out of his mouth!

“Vic-tree!” Morgan declared clapping her hands.

“Vic-tor-ee.” Bruce pronounced for her, picking her up and nudging Tony’s side with his foot, “Get up.”

“Can’t, dead now.” Tony replied.

“Then I suppose Alfred will have to bury you in the garden.” Bruce mused, “Alfred?” He called, “Would you mind burying a dead body?” 

“Why? Has Tim killed Dick or Jason at last?” Alfred called back.

“No, but Morgan shot Tony.” Damian informed him.

“Very well, I’ll get the shovel.” 

“I hate everyone.” Tony complained, getting to his feet, “No one respects me around here, even my own rug-rat shoots me.” 

“Sorry Daddy.” Morgan said, “Next time I’ll shoot Papa!”

“What?” Bruce cried in mock horror, “Tony, we have budding murderess on our hands.”

“What do you expect, letting Demon Spawn be around her?” Jason snorted, wincing when Damian kicked his shin. 

“Hey, Petey.” Tony said greeting Peter at last and taking the dart from his head, “Looking good, Kid, you alright for cash tonight?” 

“I’m fine, I got my allowance today.” Peter replied staring at the red mark on Tony’s forehead.

“And how about the things that make you blush like a cherry?” Tony asked, “The ones Friday delivered in the very discrete box?” 

“Yep, that’s fine, all sorted.” Peter stammered blushing just as Tony had said, maybe it was weird Tony getting him Condoms and lube, but at least Peter didn’t have to brave buying them in a chemist or supermarket, and they wouldn’t have to steal them off Jason again. 

“Well, you two love birds have a good night, don’t do anything I wouldn’t, or would do for that matter.” Tony said, taking Morgan from Bruce, “And it’s time for someone’s bath.”

“Bubbles?” Morgan asked eagerly, “And Ariel doll?” 

“Yup, Mermaids and bubbles ahoy.” Tony said carrying the little girl out of the room. 

“Have a good night both of you.” Bruce said and shot a warning glare at Dick and Jason to keep them from making anymore comments, “And if you’re not back before we go to bed, I’ll see you both in the morning.” 

“Thank you, Mr Wayne.”

“Thank’s Bruce.” The boys replied, both keen to get away from Jason and Dick’s teasing and on with their date. 

Said date went without a hitch, which was more than could be said for Morgan’s bath, which resulted in Tony and the bathroom getting soaked by the time they were done. Putting Morgan in her favourite Iron Man pyjamas, Tony took her down to say goodnight to her older brothers before tucking her into bed and went back down to the living room. 

“Who knew parenting involved so much?” He asked, sitting down besides Bruce, “Bath time, story time, meal time, and now Date time. You know, seeing Tim and Peter on their date reminds me of our first date.”

“Really?” Bruce asked a wry smile on his face.

“You can remember back that far?” Dick inquired and got a pillow thrown into his face. 

“At least Hell Spawn hasn’t started dating yet.” Jason said, ruffling Damian’s hair and getting his hand slapped away,

“At least when I do date I won’t be as pathetic about it as those two idiots.” Damian sneered, “I won’t make cow eyes or simper like them.”

“Such a romantic.” Dick chuckled.

“Fancy an early night?” Tony asked Bruce, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively,

“I wouldn’t mind.” Bruce agreed.

“Subtle.” Dick drawled rolling his eyes, while Jason made a gagging noise and Damian just muttered something in Arabic. 

“Night boys.” Bruce called over his shoulder.

“God those two are as bad as Tim and Peter.” Dick sighed.

“True.” Damian agreed, “But at least, unlike the pair of you, they have sexual partners to enjoy carnal activities with.” He smiled smugly at the gob smacked looks on his elder brothers faces and settled back to read, happy he’d gotten the last word. 

*****

Five months after bringing back the infinity stones and fixing the snap, Lex and Clark got married in a rather low key, or at least low key for a Luthor, ceremony, to which only their closest family and friends were invited. Which of course meant the entire Justice League, and Avengers teams. 

Bruce and Diana took charge of getting Arthur presentable for the wedding, insisting he wear a suit and tie his hair back for the day no matter how much he grumbled about it. 

Tony had a suit custom made for Victor so it would fit over his metallic frame without being cumbersome, he also made sure that Barry had a decent suit to wear and insisted on buying one for Peter. 

Natasha, Diana, Hope, Lois, Pepper, and May all looked impossibly elegant and beautiful in the cocktail dresses, Martha Kent looking smart and charming in an understated dress suit that was more suitable for a woman of her age, sadly the Guardians and Carol couldn’t make it, but Thor came, as did Banner who’d taken up a teaching position in New Mexico at a university, and both T’Challa, and Shuri, along with Okoye attended, bringing Bucky and Steve with them in smart suits. 

Clint brought his family too, all smart dressed for the day, although it was a toss up to see who complained more about wearing a neck tie, himself or Cooper! 

However it was Morgan who stole the show, looking adorable in her bridesmaid dress as she walked down the aisle before Lex, clutching a bouquet. 

Lex was led down the aisle with Tony on one side and Bruce on the other to where Clark was waiting for him, looking equal parts nervous and elated. 

“Hurt him and they’ll never find your body.” Bruce said to the Krytonian. 

“Fine.” Clark replied his eyes fixed on Lex. 

Both shed a few tears ask they exchanged their vows, and there was a lot of cooing when Morgan presented them with the rings from a velvet box, both men bending to kiss her cheeks before she scampered back to Tony and Bruce.

With shaking hands the pair slid the rings onto their fingers and kissed before the officiate even had a chance to say that they could the congregation erupting into laughter and cheers.

The wedding reception was held at Wayne Manor, as it was a large enough location and it meant they could keep the paparazzi away from the wedding. 

“So, honeymoon, where are you going?” Tony asked, 

“Mauritius, and we’re flying there by jet not Superman.” Lex replied, snickering as Damian, bright red, was grabbed by Lila and dragged out to dance awkwardly with her. Peter and Tim were dancing nearby and both grinned at the sight of Damian shuffling through the dance. 

Morgan was happily playing with Nate under the watchful eyes of May, Alfred, and Laura, until Clint took her to dance. Both Dick and Jason just about fell over themselves in asking Natasha and Diana for dances and Bucky danced several times with Shuri, telling her not to bother with Steve if she valued her feet!

“And, there is more news.” Lex said, “We’re adopting a baby boy in few months.” 

“Oh my God!” 

“Congratulations.” Bruce said, 

“Thank you.” Clark replied.

“Who’s the Mother, or don’t you know?” Tony asked.

“I can’t mention her name because of confidentiality.” Lex said, “But she’s fourteen and she’s not ready to be a Mother, but she’s very nice and she found actually found us through the adoption agency. She’s due to give birth in three months and it’ll be an open adoption so she’ll get regular updates and visits with him.” 

“Got any names picked out for him, here’s a hint, Anthony.” 

Lex rolled his eyes, “We’re thinking Connor.” 

“And,” Clark added, “We were wondering if you wanted to be God Fathers.”

“Of course.” Bruce said at once, “We’d be honoured.”

“Connor Luthor-Kent. That does have a nice ring to it.” Tony said. 

“Hmm, and speaking of Ring, hadn’t you better get on with it before we cut the cake, Bruce?” Lex asked, a knowing grin on his face.

“On with what?” Tony asked frowning in confusion, then his eyes widened as Bruce pushed back his chair and got down on one knee.

“Anthony Edward Stark, will you marry me?” 

“Ohmygod, ohmyfuckinggod and yes!” Tony cried, grinning, Bruce took the ring from the box and slipped it onto his finger the two of them falling into a kiss oblivious to the attention they’d attracted until Morgan demanded to know what was going on. 

“Your Papa and Daddy are getting married.” Clark explained to her, “Just like me and Lex have done.” 

“So I get to be Brides maid again?” Morgan asked.

“Absolutely you do.” Tony said breaking away from Bruce to lift her into a hug, “In fact, you get to be maid of honour.” 

“Want to dance?” Clark asked Lex,  
“I thought you’d never ask.” Lex replied, taking Clark’s larger hand and leading him to the Dance floor, he might be shorter than Clark, but he always led in their dances. “Hmm, our friends are getting married, we’ve got a baby on the way, could life be any better?” He asked.

“I don’t think it could.” Clark said pulling Lex in closer, “Except with you being naked!” he whispered into Lex’s ear.

“Clark! Your Mother is right there!” Lex protested.

“Yeah, but I’m a big boy now, she’ll understand.” 

Lex groaned and glanced about, “Think anyone would notice if we slipped away for a few minutes?”

Six Months later.

Lex and Clark cradled three month old Connor as Tony and Bruce took their wedding vows, with Morgan as Maid of Honour, Peter, Dick, Tim, Jason, and Damian as Ushers, and Alfred as Bruce’s Best Man.

Like Lex and Clark they kept the ceremony and reception private and away from the public eye but were joined this time by the Guardians who had been successful in retrieving Gamora, and Carol as all had returned to Earth in time for the wedding. 

As the pair set off for their honeymoon in the Seychelles Tony turned to Bruce, “Do you think it’s really safe leaving Morgan and Damian with only Alfred to supervise them?” 

“Of course, what could possibly happen in two weeks?” 

Two weeks later.

Damian’s eyebrows and the front portion of his hair were singed off, one of the upstairs bathrooms needed major repair work, and Alfred was looking to take a long vacation on another continent. 

The End.


End file.
